


Fire with Fire

by AgentIanLegend



Category: Captain America (Movies), Danny Phantom, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bonding, Confusion, Conspiracy, Drama, Family, High School, Humor, Mystery, New York City, Queens, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:07:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24324049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentIanLegend/pseuds/AgentIanLegend
Summary: When the Fentons relocate for a year-long contract, Danny Fenton and Peter Parker find themselves at the heart of a secretive power struggle in an increasingly supernatural world. For the Avengers and the world’s sake, the demons in their shadows must be conquered.From the author that brought you the Danny Phantom-Young Justice crossover universe of "Recognized." Rated T for themes, occasional language and action, though as a whole it could probably pass for General Audiences.
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Jazz Fenton, Danny Fenton & Maddie Fenton, Danny Fenton & Peter Parker, Danny Phantom & Spider-Man, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker & Tony Stark, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Tony Stark
Comments: 182
Kudos: 356





	1. Ghost

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Friday, everyone!
> 
> I hope you all have survived quarantine well. Things have been opening up again here in Italy, and it's kind of...sad, because I love an excuse to not socialize AT ALL lol.
> 
> I have been busy-busy during this time doing research and outlining and diagramming for my next multichapter fic, which is this! It all sprouted from an idea for a scene which won't appear until later on in the fic. I have been really antsy to do a Danny Phantom/MCU Spider-Man crossover for ages because I love them both so much.
> 
> Let's get cracking! I hope you all enjoy it as much as Recognized. :)
> 
> A HUGE shoutout to my betas for helping me sort out the concept of this story!
> 
> / Timeline Notes /
> 
> \- Danny Phantom: This takes place after seasons 1 and 2 which cover Danny's freshman year. We pick up before any of the action in season 3 unless otherwise noted.
> 
> \- MCU: It begins immediately following the Clash of the Avengers at the airport in Berlin, putting this story in 2016 in the MCU timeline

Our worst demons lurk in the shadows. They slither, they twist, they adapt. They do anything to hold onto power. The worst part? One never even knows they are there, stalking, waiting, planning, until any hope of vanquish is gone.

* * *

_New Avengers Facility_ — _Esopus, New York — Sunday, June 12, 20:30_

Blackness.

He felt nothing but suppressed pain. It ebbed through his whole body, but its lack of intensity was testament to the presence of a strong medication. He felt held down, more so by gravity than any other force, but he couldn't seem to bring any part of himself to move just yet.

As the tendrils of consciousness slowly wove themselves into Colonel James Rhodes' mind, he became more and more aware of his surroundings. He was no longer in a field outside Flughafen Leipzieg-Halle; he was no longer in the dead War Machine armor. There was no fragrance of grass or rush of air. There was only a soothingly calm environment with no daylight burning through his eyelids. A rhythmic beeping alerted him to the presence of an EKG machine monitoring his heart rate.

As Rhodes finally reached full consciousness, he began to feel something off. It wasn't something wrong with his body, though he could tell it was seriously injured; no, something was off about his surroundings. He opened his eyes.

A white mask stared back at him.

Rhodes couldn't help the full-body jolt from the surprise, but he schooled the rest of his reaction. The hooded figure with a full-face mask was wordlessly leaning over him on the bed, leaving less than one foot between their faces.

"Who the hell are you?" Rhodes demanded.

Gone.

Rhodes fought against the pain and suppressed muscle control to sit up slightly and reach for the remote to incline his bed. He sat waiting, not even breathing, but there was no evidence that the masked-and-hooded intruder had ever been there.

* * *

_Queens — Sunday, June 12, 20:45_

"That's not a hug; I'm just grabbing the door for you," Tony grunted as he opened Peter's door. "We're not—we're not there yet."

Peter broke eye contact, clearly trying to fight the awkwardness of the situation.

"Bye," Tony said.

Peter shut the car door, and Happy accelerated away.

 _[_ _Boss, there's been a break-in,]_ Friday announced as soon as the car had left.

Tony sighed. "It must be somewhere significant if you're telling _me, *now.*"_

 _[_ _The Avengers Compound.]_

Tony froze. Happy gave him a concerned look in the rearview mirror.

"What?" the billionaire finally spoke. "How?"

 _[_ _I don't know, boss,"_ Friday replied, and her system produced a holographic display of security camera footage and other data. _"No perimeter breaches were registered, and the motion detectors only identified disjointed movement rather than a single path through the compound."_

"Hardware issue?" Tony asked. "Software?"

 _[_ _I don't think so. All systems are showing no technical faults. There have been similar incidents reported at other secure facilities in the past few days.]_

"What do we know about this intruder?"

Friday pulled up a still from one of the security feeds. _[He is very athletic and fully hidden, so we have no description of his physical appearance other than height and weight approximations. He carries very little and appears to have the ability to disappear from view and walk through walls on demand.]_

"What, so you're saying a *ghost* broke into our base without so much as an alarm going off?" Tony quipped.

 _[_ _All testimony from Avengers and SHIELD employees corroborate it.]_

Tony paused. "That was a _joke,_ Friday."

 _[_ _Do I sound like *I'm* joking, boss?]_

Tony groaned. "I'd more readily assume it's 'ghost' tech before a ghost. Are there any known threats who fit the profile or M.O.?"

 _[_ _There's an antihero in Amity Park, Ohio commonly known as Danny Phantom, or just Phantom for short, previously 'Inviso-Bill.']_

"Oh, kill me," Tony muttered.

 _[_ _Phantom wasn't a fan of the name either. Nobody's quite sure whether he's good or not, but he exhibits the same abilities as the figure seen at the Avengers Compound. Most locals claim it's from his own superhuman abilities, but he has been reported visibly using tech as well. Oh, and get this, boss: he has a confirmed history of break-ins and robbery.]_

"We need to figure out how the tech works before we can fight against someone using it in the future. Do we know anyone who specializes in it who isn't tied up in bureaucratic…grossness? Someone local who knows how this antihero works and has maybe fought him before?"

 _[_ _We know *of* someone. Well, two people, actually.]_

"Well," Tony said. "Fight fire with fire."

* * *

Peter unlocked the door to 7B and tossed his keys into the bowl on the table just inside. He fumbled with the new case from Stark and, kicking the door closed behind him, called out, "May, I'm home!"

Peter went into his room and shoved the new metal case under the lower bunk of his bed. He heard footsteps coming from May's bedroom and realized the web shooters were still on his wrist. He leaped for the zip-up hoodie on the back of the desk chair and barely had it pulled on when May appeared in the doorway. He quickly sat down on the edge of his mattress and pressed a hand to his cheek.

"Yeah, he's home now," May said into her phone and inched anxiously into the room. "Yep…yeah, I'll talk to the neighborhood watch… Okay, bye." She hung up and pocketed the phone before beaming at her nephew. "Peter! Welcome ho-oh my god! What happened to your face?!"

Peter froze with a deer-in-headlights expression. He had totally forgotten about any visible damage from the fight in Berlin. "Uh, n-nothing! Nothing! I jus'—just fell!"

"Peter Parker, don't you dare lie to me!" May growled with a pointed finger in his face. "What'd you do?"

"I didn't do nothin', honest!" Peter insisted.

"Well then what happened?" May demanded.

"I...fell? In-into a guy's fist?"

May rolled her eyes and headed for the kitchen. "The first weekend retreat of your fancy internship—which is a GODSEND, by the way!—and you're already pickin' fights?!" she shouted.

Peter felt a building irritation on his wrist and began fumbling with the cuff of his sweatshirt. "I didn't start it; _he_ did."

" _I just don't understand what's going on with you,"_ May called from the other room. _"This isn't like you, Peter."_

Peter heard the magnetic seal on the freezer door break and then reseal shut.

" _So who was it? Who hit you?"_ May asked.

Peter exposed his right web shooter. "Some guy," he called back then muttered to himself, "So itchy, man…God."

A kitchen drawer slammed shut. _"What was *some guy's* name?"_

Peter couldn't stop himself from curiously pressing a button on the mechanism. "Aahhh…Steve!" he replied. A hologram activated and momentarily blinded the concussed Peter.

" _Steve? From 12C?"_ May asked. _"With the OVERBITE?!"_

"No no no, you don't know him! He's from Brooklyn."

Peter heard May coming and shoved the web shooter under his left arm. He pressed the heel of his left palm to his face and emitted a feeble, "Ouch…"

May sat down next to him on his lower bunk. "Well, hope you got a few good licks in," she said and held out the towel-wrapped bag of frozen peas.

"Yeah, I got quite a few in, actually." Peter took the peas. "His friend was huge. Like, _huge._ "

May nodded and tried to hide her smirk.

"That's way better," Peter said. "Thank you."

"Okay, tough guy." May let her smile grow and stood up.

"Love you, May," Peter called after her. "Hey, can you shut the door?"

May pulled the door shut behind her, and Peter let the hologram project onto the ceiling as he looked on in amazement.

* * *

_Long Island — Sunday, June 12, 21:15_

It was cliché and unhealthy, but the man didn't care; he smoked his cigar with the highest feeling of deserving. Only the single desk lamp was turned on, illuminating merely the desktop, the wisps of cigar smoke and a single focused spot on the coffered ceiling. The mansion's isolated location and extensive foliage outside meant little light pollution poured through the leaded glass windows. An old fashioned cocktail glass clinked from the ice cubes chilling the Italian bitters inside.

There was a knock at the door, and it opened to produce a perfectly-styled man. "Sir," he greeted.

"Come," the man ordered in his unforgettable voice of gravel.

The unnamed guest entered and shut the door, crossing the dark study to stand in front of the man's desk. "The Ghost operative was spotted again, sir," he said, "this time within the Avengers Compound itself."

"You say this as if it were news to me," said the shadowed man.

"It does mean the Avengers will be on high alert now. They still don't know who exactly the Ghost works for."

"We are prepared."

"Are we, sir?"

The gravel-voiced man scowled dangerously, threatening the man to speak again.

"G-given this," the visitor stated hesitantly, "the organization awaits instruction."

"First Pierce and Stern, then von Strucker and Malick, and now Rumlow," the shadowed man said. "I'm staggered by the extent of this serial incompetence."

"This is why we look to you in this time of need," answered the guest.

The host sighed. "We only have one option left. Contact Bullock and rally his men. We're going hunting."

With a curt nod, the goon withdrew his cell phone as he exited the room. He placed a call and said, "Kay, alert Alpha: Wraith Protocol is go."

* * *

_Amity Park — Tuesday, June 14, 17:15_

"Mom, I'm home!" Danny shifted the paper shopping bag in his hands as he kicked the front door shut behind him.

" _I'll be down in a little bit!"_ Maddie called from upstairs. _"Leave the food in the kitchen and take the cleaner down to the lab."_

"Alright."

Danny set the bag down on the kitchen table. He went about putting away the perishables, leaving the dry goods still in the bag. Taking the purple spray bottle of 409 cleaner in hand, Danny entered the open door to the lab stairs and went down to the basement. Just as he reached the bottom, though, Danny spotted a figure in white standing at one of his parents' computers.

"Hey!" Danny barked.

The hunched figure twisted so Danny could see his masked face. The intruder immediately sprung into action and charged Danny. The teen, however, saw the attack coming from miles away thanks to his year of combat training, or lack thereof, on the job of protecting Amity Park. Danny ducked to avoid the intruder's first strike, but he didn't see the hidden taser in the other hand.

Danny cried out at the sudden voltage and dropped into a heap at the bottom of the stairs. He scrambled to recover, but the attacker squeezed his hand into a fist, and it alit with energy. With a single punch, he sent Danny flying up the flight of stairs and crashing into the kitchen table.

Surrounded by splintered wood and spilling groceries, Danny moaned and slowly rolled onto his back. "Ugh," he grunted. "If that's how you wanna play it, no more Mr. Normal Teenager."

Danny stood and transformed into Phantom. He drifted from the floor and, going intangible, flew through the foundation and dirt and out of the wall into the lab. The intruder was hurriedly typing at the desktop, and Phantom was able to spot a progress bar in the corner of the screen.

Phantom remained intangible until the last possible second. He tackled the intruder from the side and sent them both crashing into the workbench.

"I don't know who you think you are," Phantom snapped, "but no one messes with the Fentons."

Suddenly, the intruder was intangible and escaped Phantom's grasp.

' _He's a ghost? But my ghost sense didn't go off…'_ Phantom's brow furrowed. "Pretty daring of a ghost to break into the ghost hunters' house!"

The intruder withdrew a weapon and fired it at Phantom.

Phantom, however, dodged the energy blast and let it strike the basement wall. A second unexpected blast caught him and sent Phantom clattering into a cabinet.

The intruder ripped a USB stick from the computer and made a dash for a dark corner of the lab. Phantom charged his hand with ectoplasm and fired. He missed the man's body, but the ectoblast caught the hand holding the USB, and it clattered to the floor, smoking.

Before Danny could charge, the man disappeared from all wavelengths. Phantom assumed he must have left the room intangibly through the wall and chased after, but he was nowhere to be found. Defeated, he returned to the lab and de-transformed just before Maddie came storming down the steps and into view.

"Danny! Are you alright?!" she asked and hurried to assess any injuries.

Danny faked a hurt spot on his torso. "Uh, yeah, I'll be fine."

"What happened?"

"A robber, I guess," Danny replied with a half-shrug. "He threw me up the stairs into the table and left before he could take anything."

"Oh, my poor baby!" Maddie cooed and pulled him into a hug. "I'm so glad you weren't hurt worse."

"I wish I could say the same about dinner," Danny quipped, and they both went upstairs to look at the ruins of the table and ingredients canvasing the floor.

Maddie sighed and gently rested a hand on Danny's shoulder. "I'll clean this up," she said. "You go ahead and sit down for a while and recover."

"If you say so." Danny went into the living room and plopped onto the sofa, grabbing the remote from the coffee table as he sat. Danny put his feet up and turned on the TV which happened to be tuned to the local news channel.

" _-lvCo's recent takeover of Sheinhardt Wig Company's parent corporation General Electric amidst the global scramble for a foothold in Wakanda,"_ anchor Tiffany Snow was saying. _"All of this follows the shocking foreign policy reversal from Wakanda's own King T'Challa during a press conference earlier this week in Vienna._

" _Next up, some local gossip,"_ the woman continued. _"One of our viewers shared this photo via social media mere moments ago."_ The transmission switched to a slightly blurry and very zoomed photograph from a cell phone camera. _"I am just as shocked as you are to learn that local ghostly hero, Danny Phantom, goes grocery shopping just like the rest of us!"_

Danny paled. There, plain as day, was his alter ego flying through the air, carrying a brown paper bag of groceries. A purple spray bottle and a white bag of flour poked out of the top.

Something clattered in the kitchen, and Maddie came sprinting into the room. "Danny, pause it!"

Danny reluctantly paused the news so his mother could study the photograph.

"Amazing! What is that abomination doing grocery shopping?" his mother asked and put her hands on her hips.

"M-maybe he was helping somebody?" Danny fumbled.

Maddie lingered for a moment longer. "Huh." She tore herself away to return to the mess in the kitchen.

Danny gulped and resumed playback.

Upon returning to the kitchen, Maddie took the torn bag of flour in hand and absently judged its weight. Her gaze fell sidelong on the door to the basement where a purple spray bottle of 409 cleaner likely sat waiting for her.

* * *

_Queens — Tuesday, June 14, 17:15_

A loud "WHOOP!" echoed between the buildings. In full Spider-Man garb, Peter swung between the buildings along Queens Boulevard headed towards Long Island City.

The afternoon air rang with a sudden shrill scream. Peter doubled back and perched on top of an apartment block to assess the situation. A mugger or kidnapper of sorts in a grey hoodie had grabbed a little girl's wrist and was dragging her down a side street. Incensed, Peter leapt off the roof, using a web attached to the neighboring building to arc up and over the street. His angle perfectly set him up for a direct landing on the kidnapper.

But then, a noise distracted him. He glanced and saw a woman sprinting across the street with her long brown hair flowing behind her.

"May!?" Peter muttered to himself and lost control of his flight. Spider-Man crashed into a tree and flailed to grab a foothold, but he took a branch to the midsection and doubled over on it. His suit lost traction and let him slide off and crash to the ground on his back with a loud grunt.

All three civilians were momentarily distracted by Spider-Man's ungraceful entrance, but May recovered the quickest. She lassoed the shoulder strap of her purse over the mugger's head and yanked his face down into her waiting knee, and the man dropped instantly to the pavement.

May rushed to kneel in front of the shaking girl. "Hi, sweetie, are you okay? Did he hurt you at all?" she asked.

"No I'm okay, Miss Parker," the girl replied, clearly knowing May from somewhere.

"Good, good," May said and pulled her into a tight hug. "We're going to get you home safe, alright?"

A scrape of a pebble against the asphalt alerted the two to the stirring superhero a few yards away.

"Ouch…" Spider-Man muttered, voice muffled by the full-face mask. He rose to his feet and brushed himself off.

"Hey, it's Spider-Boy!" the girl cried out with glee and jumped up and down with excitement.

"How many times do I have to say: It's Spider- _MAN!"_ the hero punctuated with a pathetically dramatic flailing of his limbs. He collected himself, cleared his throat and continued in as thick of a Queens accent as he could manage, "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine, Spider-*Man,*" May teased.

"Good."

"Uuugh…" moaned the kidnapper.

"Shut up!" Spider-Man thrust out his hand and used a shot of webbing to glue the man's head to the pavement. "Hey, uh, Miss…Parker, was it?"

"Yeah…?" May said.

"Can you call the cops and watch this guy for a few minutes till they get here? I'd be happy to escort Little Miss Sunshine home."

"Uhhh, sure," May agreed, clearly perplexed by something feeling off about Spider-Man.

"Great! Let's bounce, little darlin'," he said and squatted down to the girl's level.

"I'm Leia!" the girl announced.

"No way! Are you a princess from a galaxy far, far away?!"

Leia giggled with an ear-to-ear grin. "Noooo!"

"Aw, too bad," Spider-Man responded with faux disappointment. " 'Cause I happen to know just where you can get some blue milk out on Queens Boulevard…"

"Do they serve blue milk in Queens?" May asked.

Spider-Man scoffed. "*Everyone* knows blue milk is actually melted cotton candy sorbet!"

"Let's get it! Let's get it!" Leia said.

"Alright, alright, cool your jets!" Spider-Man stood and asked May, "Hey, can I borrow five bucks?"

May's left eyebrow shot up. "Does superhero-ing not pay well?"

"Oh. Right. Uh…" Peter had never been more grateful for a full-face mask to hide the look of panic on his face. "Sorry…citizen. I forgot. Who I was talking to. Because you're not my mom; you're not *anyone's* mom. I mean…I don't think. I don't know, you're just a random- …Anyway. I _toooootally_ have five dollars."

"Riiiiight," was all May could formulate as a response to the hero's babbling. She rolled her eyes and found a fiver in her billfold, handing it to Spider-Man without another word.

"I'll pay you back, promise," he stage-whispered to her.

"Don't worry about it," she whispered back.

* * *

"Hey, May, I'm back from Ned's," Peter called as he walked into apartment 7B.

"Perfect timing!" she replied and rushed from the stove. May immediately pulled Peter into a long, wordless hug.

"Um…is everything okay?" Peter asked. He couldn't help but worry she had figured him out.

"I just missed you today."

"Don't you miss me _every_ day?"

May pulled out of the hug and gently punched Peter's shoulder. "Jerk."

Peter faked it hurting for her amusement.

"The lasagna's almost ready. Wash your hands."

"I'm not six anymore, May," Peter replied with a groan.

"It doesn't mean you get to skip personal hygiene!"

"No, I meant- no of _course_ you know what I meant," Peter grumbled, May's chuckling only confirming that. He washed and automatically went to fill the water glasses as had become their pre-dinner routine.

"So anything exciting happen today?" May asked.

"Uh, no, not really," Peter answered vaguely. "Ned's trying to decide which LEGO set to buy himself for his birthday."

"Sounds like a big life decision," May joked.

Peter sobered and said as seriously as possible, "You have no idea, May. It's a big commitment."

May rolled her eyes and started plating the lasagna.

"What about you?"

The woman stilled for a moment, and the kitchen went quiet. A second later, though, and the clatter of her spatula against the plate continued. "Nothing interesting."

"Really?" Peter didn't mean to sound so surprised.

"Nope, it was a totally unremarkable day," May said and handed the plate to Peter with a smile.

When she had her back turned, Peter frowned in confusion. Saving a little girl from kidnapping was a big deal, even for a normal person. However, Peter couldn't say anything because he would have to reveal how he knew something happened.

Though she smiled as she sat, May had a detectable emotion hidden behind her eyes, something of worry.

"Because you know you can tell me if anything happens, right?" Peter continued. "I can handle it. I'm here for you."

With a show of lightheartedness, May said, "Pete, I can't tell you something if nothing happened."

Peter frowned and returned his attention to his plate of lasagna.

"Why, did someone tell you something _did_ happen?" May asked.

"No," Peter denied. "I—just sayin' is all."

* * *

_Esopus, New York — Tuesday, June 14, 17:15_

"It was weird as hell, Tony." Rhodes fumbled for the remote and inclined his hospital bed. "I woke up, nobody around except this dude in white with a freaky Jason mask. Didn't talk or nothin', and then he just disappeared. It scared the shit outta me."

"She," Tony corrected and adjusted his position in his chair.

Rhodes paused. "She?"

"Ava Starr, a former SHIELD operative," Tony continued. "Hill ID'd her from the security footage. Pretty typical mad-science-experiment-gone-wrong kind of story: Her parents were playing around with quantum energy and lost control, they died in an explosion which gave little Ava some trouble with phase control and visibility and, you know, _dying._ Our old buddy Nick Fury decided to weaponize her, but she went rogue after the Hydra Uprising since it was pretty clear none of these goons were planning on helping her condition."

"So what was she doing here?"

"That's what I don't know, Rhodey," Tony admitted. "SHIELD never had any intention of helping her. They never studied her condition beyond what it could do for them."

"Damn," Rhodes muttered.

"Yeah. Poor kid." Tony sighed. "Maybe she thought the Avengers had worked with something quantum and she was hoping to steal it for herself. There's been a string of reported ghost-like break-ins across the country, and all of them describe a mysterious white-cloaked figure who goes to extreme lengths to not be described as 'chatty.' There's no defense against her or anyone or anything like her because nobody ever bothered to study ghosts. Well…*almost* nobody."

"You know a guy?"

"And a gal. Jack and Madeline Fenton out of Amity Park."

"Amity," Rhodes repeated. "Isn't that the—the portal-to-hell house?"

"That's Amityville," Tony corrected. "Amity _Park_ is a small town outside of Middle of Nowhere, Ohio. It also happens to be the most *haunted city in America.*"

"Really," Rhodes drawled.

Tony shook his head and rolled his eyes in a dismissive manner. "However true it may be, there are a heck of a lot of ghost sightings even by Amity Park police, and the Fentons seem to be the only local humans who know what they're doing. I say 'humans' because…we've got another vigilante on our hands: Danny Phantom."

"I think I heard of that kid. It *is* a kid, right?"

"He claims to be a ghost. A _good_ ghost," Tony added with a huff. "Ghost or not, he's also been connected to multiple thefts and kidnappings, so whether he's more Casper or Gozer, who knows?"

Rhodes clicked his tongue and shook his head. "First aliens, now ghosts."

"It's a strange new world," Tony said. "And apparently the Fentons know ghost tech, invisibility and phase shifting like nobody's business. I figure I might as well sign them on at Stark for a year and see what they come up with. If anything, it'll prepare us in case Danny Phantom ever becomes a real threat to global security."

"So, what's next for me?" Rhodes asked. "Retirement?"

"First, a field trip down to Columbia Medical to see what they can do for ya. Then we'll outfit you with a sweet set of wheels and you'll be zipping around the compound in no time. Like our own…less-intelligent Charles Xavier."

"I'm not a telepath," Rhodes deadpanned.

"You _are_ balding, though."

"Halfway there," Rhodes cracked with a smile.

* * *

_Amity Park — Friday, July 1, 15:30_

"I have never been more bored in my entire life."

Tucker blurted the definitive fact from his uncomfortable position draped over the edge of Danny's bed. The mattress supported everything from the waist down while his torso arced backwards towards the floor. He felt around his head for his toppled phone until he eventually gave up.

"How long until Sam finishes the—the thing?" Danny asked from his desk.

"She gets back tomorrow."

Danny took a deep breath and stretched in his chair. "There are only so many Buzzfeed articles you can read before you finally just have to give up. God, I never thought I'd find myself wishing for a ghost attack just so I'd have something to do."

"How long until school starts again?" Tucker asked.

"Break only started a couple weeks ago, Tuck."

"Ugh."

There was a knock on the bedroom door, and it opened to reveal Maddie. "Sorry to interrupt, Danny," she said, "but I have some quick heavy lifting to do down in the lab, and your father's out. Do you mind?"

"No, that's fine." Danny stood.

"I'll come too," Tucker said.

"I can manage, Tuck."

"What the hell else am I gonna do?" his friend rebuffed.

Danny shrugged before following his mom out of the room. "Fair."

"Can you help me up, though?" Tucker called after him.

Danny briefly reappeared in the doorway. "Nah. I would hate to deprive you of a valuable time-killer."

Tucker groaned before contorting himself until he could fully roll to the floor and clamber to his feet. He caught up to Danny and Maddie in the lab where the latter was indicating some boxes of prototypes to be moved.

"Hey, Mrs. F., can I have a soda?" Tucker asked.

"Sure," she said. "Danny, there's a box of them over by the fluids cabinet."

"On it." Danny walked over and found a room-temperature Dr. Pepper sitting on the counter. He grabbed it and brought it to his friend while Maddie busied herself across the lab. "Sorry, Tuck, it's not cold. I can go grab a glass of ice if you want?" Danny handed it over.

Tucker, upon grabbing the can of soda, held it only for a second before setting it down. "What are you talking about?! It's freezing!"

"W-what?" Danny felt the can, and it was indeed barely above freezing to the touch. "That's so weird; it felt just fine a second ago?" Danny looked at his hand, but it seemed perfectly normal. He released a dismissive huff and returned to helping his mother.

Just then, someone rang the front doorbell.

"Would you go see who that is, please, Tucker?" Maddie asked.

"But I don't live here?"

"You're basically family, sweetie," the woman assured. "Go on. I still need Danny for a bit longer."

"Alright," Tucker agreed with a shrug. He went upstairs, taking the soda with him. Tucker took a large swig and opened the door.

"Hi."

In shock, Tucker accidentally spat his mouthful of soda all over the billionaire standing in the doorway. Tony Stark flinched and immediately reached for the pocket square poking out of his blazer.

After a moment of awestruck horror, Tucker finally recovered. "Oh, my god! Mr. Stark, I am so, _so_ sorry! I-"

"No, no, don't worry about it. I'm used to it," Tony replied with only a measure of sincerity. "Who—who are you?"

"A friend…of the f-family," Tucker stuttered. "Please, come in!" He stepped aside to allow Tony to enter.

"Thanks. Where _is_ the family?" Tony asked.

"Oh, downstairs. I'll get them. Please, Mr. Stark, make yourself at home!"

"Very generous of you," Tony prodded.

Tucker gave an awkward smile then sprinted downstairs.

"Who was it, Tucker?" Maddie asked.

"Iron Man."

" _What?!"_ Danny blurted.

"Tony Freaking Stark is in your living room!" Tucker said.

"Oh, there was a message from him saying he might drop by," Maddie calmly explained.

"How is this not something you'd tell us?!" Danny asked. "How are you not freaking out right now?!"

"He's just a man, Danny," Maddie said with an amused expression and went upstairs.

Danny turned to Tucker. "Oh my god, how do I look? Am I okay? Oh my god, I'm about to meet an Avenger!"

"Holy crap, I just spat soda on a guy that has literally _saved the world_ multiple times!" Tucker stage-whispered.

"You what?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 1 Easter Eggs and references (! I love including these):
> 
> \- Why Dr. Pepper: because I freaking miss it SO MUCH living in Europe.
> 
> \- Why Esopus, New York for the Avengers Compound location: Somebody figured out what part of the bank of the Hudson onto which Marvel superimposed the facility for the movies' aerial shots.
> 
> \- Sheinhardt Wig Company: Did anybody catch this sly 30 Rock reference? :)
> 
> \- Aunt May saving the girl and Peter sees it happen: Something like this was actually a deleted scene in Homecoming which Marisa Tomei talked about in an interview, though they never said what exactly happened in this unseen scene.
> 
> \- Leia/blue milk: To be honest, it's kind of sad if I have to explain this one for you. It's Star Wars, guys! C'mon… (Fun fact: I've had blue milk at Galaxy's Edge and it's delicious because it was made with coconut milk and spiked with rum.)
> 
> \- "this dude in white with a freaky Jason mask": from Friday the 13th
> 
> \- "whether he's more Casper or Gozer": Casper the Friendly Ghost and Gozer, the main villain in the original Ghostbusters movie
> 
> \- "If anything, it'll prepare us in case Danny Phantom ever becomes a threat to global security.": Ultimate Enemy much?
> 
> Let me know what you guys think! Tune in next month for more :)


	2. Gulliver Travels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark comes to the Fentons with a proposal, Danny and Jazz deal with a looming life change, and Peter encounters a mysterious new threat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to Fire with Fire. I am your host, Mr. Desperately Seeking Employment. Amidst the anxiety of a post-graduation/post-COVID-19 job hunt in an archaically elitist profession, I have been using writing as an outlet for my stress. I have spent the last month crafting this chapter with the help of my beta readers to perfectly set up the rest of this fic. We do have a few time jumps in these earlier chapters since the action will not center around the Homecoming plotline but instead parallel it as it sets up what comes after the takedown of the Vulture.
> 
> \- TIMELINE NOTES -
> 
> \- *RETCON FROM CHAPTER 1*: Tony's meeting with the Fentons wouldn't happen for at least a couple weeks after the Civil War fiasco due to all of the logistics the Avengers would be dealing with after the events of the movie. So, his meeting with the Fentons has moved from June 17 to July 1.
> 
> \- Danny Phantom: This takes place after seasons 1 and 2 which, I am assuming, cover Danny's freshman year. We pick up before any of the action in season 3 unless otherwise noted.
> 
> \- MCU: It begins immediately following the Clash of the Avengers at the airport in Berlin, putting this story in 2016 in the MCU timeline

_Amity Park — Friday, July 1, 15:35_

"Thank you for meeting with me, Dr. Fenton," Tony said.

"Oh, please, Mr. Stark, call me 'Maddie,' " the woman replied, emerging from the kitchen with a tray of refreshments in hand and a hand towel draped over her arm.

"Only if you call me Tony."

"Alright, Tony," Maddie said with a smile. She set the tray down, gave Tony the towel and sat in the chair adjacent to the sofa. "Now, you said the Avengers have been dealing with a ghost?"

"Ghost _tech_ ," he clarified and dabbed at the soda stains on his blazer. Tony sensed something and turned to his right where Tucker sat with an eager ear-to-ear grin on his face. Danny was mimicking Tucker's expression just beyond the closer boy's shoulder. Tony cleared his throat and attempted to return his attention to Maddie. "I'd hesitate to jump straight to an actual ghost; though we _have_ fought aliens from outer space, so who's to say?"

Just then, the door opened, and Jack strode inside. "Tony Stark, as I live and breathe!" the man exclaimed and rushed to shake the billionaire's hand. "I haven't seen you since you kicked us out of the Stark Expo!"

"Well, we thought you were crazy back then."

Jack dismissively waved a hand. "Water under the bridge. Who cares, if we can help the Avengers!"

"Super. Anyway," Tony awkwardly diverted while Jack poured himself a glass of lemonade, "We had a recent break-in by somebody we think might be using ghost tech. We're talking full-on phase shifting and invisibility…real Casper stuff. "

"How can you be sure it _isn't_ a ghost?" asked Maddie.

"That's classified. I can tell you we have suspicions of who the perp may have been, and they are _very_ not dead."

"So how can we help?"

"I'm bringing you on as consulting engineers to Stark Industries to develop technology that can block and counter whatever was used to infiltrate our facilities."

"You came to the right place!" Jack exclaimed. "Nobody knows ghost tech better than us Fentons. Except those Guys in White guys, but-"

"They're off the table," Tony interrupted. "Those bureaucratic goons don't have _any_ proprietary gear. They get everything from General Electric's military division, but now Axion is trying to take over their market share, and the Stark Industries board wants in… Of course, you would get a percentage of the profits from whatever we develop—

"Well…look, that's all boring business-y stuff. Point is, you guys have the know-how and a much higher success rate in the field than the GIW could ever dream of."

Jack beamed with pride.

"Well, thank you, Tony," Maddie said. "That's kind of you to say."

"Especially with your local hero helping out," Tony continued. "How long have you been supplying your tech to Danny Phantom?"

"What?!" Maddie exclaimed. "As if we'd EVER give anything to a ghost!"

"That punk is our nemesis!" Jack added.

Tony appeared puzzled. "Soooo…this _isn't_ a Fenton thermos?" he asked and opened a holographic still from a recent news article.

"Amity Park's *hero* is rather light-fingered when it comes to our inventions," Maddie complained.

"You won't have to worry about that with us," Tony assured her. "We have top-of-the-line security and defense at all of our facilities."

"Apparently not," Danny muttered under his breath.

Tucker couldn't suppress a snort.

With a sidelong glance at the sheepish boys, Tony continued, "Well…that's where Fenton Works comes in, isn't it? I'll have my lawyers draw up the paperwork. We'll figure out housing for you; New York real estate is just… _the worst."_

"Wait," Danny interrupted. "Real estate? Housing? What-?"

"What, did you expect your parents to commute from *Ohio* every day?" Tony sassed.

"But…life…?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "It's a 12-month contract with our labs in Avengers Tower. But, don't fret, little one," he teased with a sarcastic pat on Danny's cheek. "You and your sister get to continue high school in the City after you move."

"That's not- What about the ghosts here? And the portal?"

Tony squinted at the boy.

"We'd be shutting down the portal while we're gone," Maddie affirmed.

"And unless your sister is masquerading around town as a *secret ghost hunter,*" Jack added with a laugh, "the Red Huntress will still be here to keep the ghosts and especially Phantom in check."

Danny whimpered quietly.

Tucker glanced between the adults and Danny. " 'Oh, and what about my bestest friends in the whole wide world?' " Tucker mocked in a high-pitched voice, then continued normally, "Don't worry, Danny. There's always Skype, and you'll make new friends." He ended with a put-upon glare at his friend, which Danny returned.

"Well, I'd better be off," Tony said and stood up. "Think it over and then call my office when you've talked Gulliver into traveling," he concluded with a jab of his thumb in Danny's direction.

"Thank you, Tony," Maddie said. "We'll be in touch."

When Tony was safely in his waiting Audi R8 convertible, he sighed and said, "So, that's Danny Fenton, huh?"

 _[_ _Yes, boss,]_ Friday confirmed.

"Does it not strike you as odd that the son of the inventors of this ghost technology has a reputation for disappearing without a trace for hours at a time?" Tony started the engine then pulled away from the curb. "We'd better put them somewhere we can keep an easy eye on Danny."

 _[_ _Apartment_ _7A just went on the market yesterday.]_

"And it's big enough for them?"

 _[_ _Three beds, two bath.]_

"Make it happen."

* * *

_Amity Park — Friday, July 8, 17:15_

Jack thumbed through the paperwork and brochures which had arrived via FedEx. "I think it's a great opportunity, Mads," he said.

"Wash the zucchini," Maddie replied, and Jack stood from his post at the replaced kitchen table to retrieve the vegetables. "I know it is, Jack, but our whole life is here. Our lab, our friends, our… _kids'_ friends…"

"Eh, they can suck it up and make new ones," Jack said. "A contract with S.I. will be fantastic for Fenton Works."

"It would give us access to better resources for our research _and_ lend legitimacy to our entire lives' work," Maddie agreed and stirred a pot of soup. "Besides, how many times does a chance to move to New York, all expenses paid, present itself?"

"That sweet paycheck from Stark Industries _definitely_ isn't discouraging," Jack said with a chuckle.

"Ha, don't I know it. It's probably TRIPLE our current research grants and would more than recuperate any lost sales on our gear. But what about Jazz, and especially Danny?"

"They'd probably love to get out of this town," Jack said. He took a quick glance to make sure neither of their teenagers was hovering close by. "It could be a chance to get Danny away from whatever trouble he keeps getting into. Hopefully, a year at that fancy high school will make that boy sit still for ten minutes and actually pay attention to a lesson for once."

Maddie smiled at the thought of their son 'returning' to them after a year of mysteries and bad behavior.

"So it's decided?" Jack asked.

"I think so!" Maddie said. "It's time for the rest of the world to meet the Fentons."

"So we _ARE_ moving?"

"BWAH!" Maddie exclaimed and jumped around to find Danny standing right in the doorway. "Danny! You move so quietly sometimes, I'd almost swear you're a ghost!"

"What about Sam and Tuck?!" he responded with a fierce glare. "My only two friends in the world! You guys know how hard it is for me to find friends as the son of the town quacks! I'm just supposed to do that all over again?"

"We take offense to that!" Jack whined.

"People in New York are a lot weirder than you'd expect, believe me," Maddie chided. "You'll fit right in."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll accept my fate," he said and took his phone out of his pocket.

Jazz walked in behind him. "So we're moving?"

"We're moving," Danny confirmed as he opened the messaging app on his phone.

"And once again, my life is _completely_ bowled over in favor of your ghost obsession," Jazz grumbled. "Did you even consider the fact that all of my college applications are going out this fall? Or that I've built up a stellar reputation and rapport with the staff who would be writing letters of recommendation?!"

"You'll do just fine, Jazz!" Maddie encouraged her. "You'll see; this move will benefit our entire family."

Jasmine harrumphed.

* * *

_Amity Park — Friday, July 8, 17:25_

Sam hopped the last steps of the grand staircase with a loud huff.

"What have I told you about stomping around, young lady?" Pamela Manson reprimanded from the living room sofa. "You'll scuff the marble."

Sam purposefully stomped harder as she entered the living room doors and stopped with her fists clenched. "Danny's moving."

Pamela twisted in her spot on the sofa with a teacup halfway to her mouth. "What?"

"Danny's family is moving to New York!" Sam said.

Pamela's jaw dropped. After a moment, she jumped up and let the teacup clatter to the floor in her wake. "JEREMY!"

Mr. Manson calmly walked in from the kitchen. "What is it, Pamela?"

"Jeremy, it's happening!" she said, bursting with glee.

"For sure?!"

Both Mansons turned to their daughter.

Sam glared. "Yes," she spat.

Pamela and Jeremy jumped up and down, giggling with glee, and ran into each other's arms.

"It's really happening!" Jeremy said. "Is it permanent?"

"It's for a year," Sam replied and sank into an end chair.

"We'll take it!"

"How can you two be so insensitive?!" Sam demanded. "My best friend is moving away!"

"It's no news that we don't approve of that boy's influence on you," Jeremy retorted.

"Plus, those _fools_ do nothing but terrorize this whole town with their nonsensical antics," Pamela said in a holier-than-thou tone.

"Who's gonna protect us from the ghosts?" Sam asked.

"We never had ghost attacks till they opened that portal of theirs," Mr. Manson said. "They'll probably shut it down when they leave!"

"And there's that nice Huntress girl!" Pamela suggested.

"Well, I'm glad everything's working out _SO_ well for you two," Sam snapped as she stood and left for the kitchen.

Ida was arranging flowers in a bouquet when Sam entered. "What's the matter, Bubahla?" the old woman asked.

Sam plopped down gracelessly into the chair adjacent to Ida and rested her chin on her crossed forearms. "Danny's moving for a year."

"Aw, sweetums," Ida cooed and rested a loving hand on her granddaughter's nearest shoulder. "It hurts, doesn't it?"

"Why should it? He's just a friend. It's not like we can't text and FaceTime with each other."

"It's not the same when you're in love."

"Wha?!" Sam sputtered. "He- but I- I'm not-"

"Oh, was I mistaken? Sorry, Sammie," Ida said contritely, though her failure to suppress a smile revealed a lack of earnestness behind it.

Sam's cheeks burned. "He's just a friend," she murmured again and glared at the abandoned floral arrangement.

"Well, buck up, camper, it's only for a year! He'll be back. Maybe you can convince your parents to visit those snooty New Yorker weirdo friends of your mom's again. I'm sure they'd let you drop in on a friend."

"We just went last week. Besides, they'd never agree if they know it's Danny."

"But they might _have to_ agree if you ask innocently enough in front of those friends and say you want to go into the city for a day. Don't they have a whole fleet of chauffeurs to take guests anywhere they'd like, no questions asked?" Ida hinted with a twinkle in her eye.

Sam smirked. "Careful, Grandma; your wild side is showing."

* * *

_Amity Park — Saturday, July 9, 11:40_

"I mean, leaving you guys for a year?" Danny mused.

"It's not the end of the world, Danny," Sam replied. "It's only a year, and it's a great opportunity for your parents. And you. You'll be only a couple degrees of separation away from the CEO of Stark Industries, who also happens to be Iron Man himself. How much more connected to tech and space stuff do you wanna be?"

"But I'll have to try to make new friends, and god knows it was hard enough getting to know you two," Danny parried. "And what about you guys anyway?"

"Is this REALLY the best time to talk about this?!" Tucker interrupted.

Danny dodged another attack from the Box Ghost and let the box crumple against the wall behind him. "Oh, come on, it's not like this is even that difficult."

"Heeeyyy, I take offense to that!" the Box Ghost whined.

"You should!" Danny Phantom replied. "You're not even _CLOSE_ to being my arch-nemesis! You just waste my time every couple weeks!"

"That's another side benefit of going," Sam said. "You said your parents are shutting down the ghost portal while you're gone, right? So, no more ghosts worming their way back to terrorize Amity."

"Let's hope the town doesn't connect the dots when the ghost attacks end with the Fentons' departure," Phantom quipped.

A beam of white-hot aquamarine energy shot out from the side, catching both Phantom and the Box Ghost by surprise. It then pulled the pair inside the Fenton Thermos in Tucker's hands and blipped away with a dying mechanical whine.

"Ugh, Tucker!" Sam groaned and punched Tucker in the arm. "What did we agree about using the Thermos when Danny himself is in its path?!"

Tucker grimaced. "…Not to?"

* * *

Danny's glare was unwavering.

"Look, I _said_ I was sorry, okay?" Tucker blurted with a flail of his arms. "I was distracted, Boxy was distracted…"

"That thing is less comfortable than the stretching table in _The Princess Bride_ ," Danny said and slumped lower in his side of their Nasty Burger booth. "Why do you think I always leave the ghosts in there overnight? As _punishment_ for _ruining_ my day."

"You're sounding a bit like Walker, there, Danny," Sam said.

"Oh, whatever."

"Order number 66?" a worker called out from the counter.

"Ours. I'll get it," Danny huffed and went to the service counter across the buzzing burger joint where Valerie Gray stood waiting. "Thanks, Val."

"No problem, Danny," Valerie said. "Is it true what they're saying about you guys moving?"

"What?! How did you hear about that already?"

"Dad saw it in the PTA email blast," she replied. "The one the Mansons send out?"

Danny rolled his eyes.

"So…it's true, then?" Valerie asked.

"Yeah," Danny sighed. "We're moving next month."

"Oh," Valerie said, a little crestfallen. "For how long?"

"A year. At least, that's how long the contract's for."

"I see. Well," Valerie said with a strained smile, "I h-hope you enjoy it. Tiffanie? I'm taking my 10."

"Okay," replied the girl at the register.

And with that, Valerie disappeared into the back after tossing her apron aside.

"Huh," Danny said, mystified. He took the tray of food and returned to the table.

"What took so long?" Sam asked when he set down the tray.

"Valerie was asking if I'm really moving. *Apparently,* your parents put an announcement in the PTA newsletter, so the whole _town_ knows already!"

"Oh, great."

"So what are we gonna do for our last month together?" Tucker asked between bites of his burger. "We've only got a few weeks left."

"We can start by packing my room?" Danny suggested and took a sip of his milkshake.

"Yay," Sam deadpanned.

A beat of depressed silence overtook the trio while they ate.

Finally, Tucker caved and said, "Hey, I'm kinda jealous of you, Danny."

Danny swallowed. "Why?"

"Come on, dude! Broadway, Times Square, Central Park, the World Trade Center, Avengers Tower…it'll be awesome!"

"Tuck, those are all in Manhattan," Danny said. "We're moving to _Queens_."

"Queens?! But there's, like, nothing special there!"

"You're tellin' me!"

"Hey, there's plenty of stuff to do in Queens," Sam interjected. "The Stark Expo grounds, for one. Plus the Museum of the Moving Image, and—and LaGuardia-"

"A park, a museum and an airport. Yeah, sounds like a real hoot," Danny said.

"Plus that's where the Spider-Guy's supposed to live," Tucker added.

"Who?"

"Spider- _Man_ ," Sam corrected. "Some new superhero. His whole gimmick is based around spiders."

"Psh, lame," Danny dismissed. "Superheroes with gimmicks are so stupid."

"As if you don't have one!" Tucker said.

"Me?!" Danny whisper-cried. "I don't have a *gimmick!*"

"Danny _Phantom,_ the dude with _ghost powers?_ "

"But I actually *am* one!"

"Well maybe he's *actually* a spider!" Tucker mocked.

"Whatever. Queens alone is bigger than all of Amity so it's not like I have a big chance of seeing him."

* * *

_Queens — Wednesday, August 10, 18:45_

It was a quiet evening in Queens. The midsummer heat had motivated most criminals to just stay home. Everything was so peaceful in the borough that Spider-Man decided to sit and watch the sunset with his mask off from one of the Long Island City towers' rooftops. Peter took a deep, slow breath, basking in the last orange rays of daylight and listening to the noises of city life.

Vacuum.

The world was suddenly devoid of noise. Peter felt a subconscious feeling of dread overtake him. At first, there was merely a whisper, a tickle of a warning curling around the hairs on the back of Peter's neck which sent him shivering into a cold sweat.

Tunnel vision overpowered the boy. He found himself taken back to that traumatizing moment months ago, something he tried to forget every day. It was fruitless to struggle against the single-minded focus making him relive it over and over and over again. Peter's heart rate began to spike, and his anxiety was the highest it had been since the night—the night his—

Ben.

The whisper of a warning changed, almost as an echo in reverse in the way it compounded intensity. All at once, Peter whipped out of the memory and back to the moment at hand.

His eyes widened at the sight of a black shape blocking his view of Manhattan. The floating figure's head was perfectly still, not even bobbing naturally as it hovered. A billowing cloak hooded its form, the long, bony arms not quite extending from under the shroud. The black cloth flowed in the air until it disappeared in trailing black smoke beneath the figure.

Both spirit and boy screamed in unison.

The black figure's screech resembled that of a trapped animal distorted by the screams of the damned. It warped the air around the tower and created a pocket of torment.

Peter's scream cracked in pitch repeatedly as he pinwheeled backwards and snatched his mask on instinct. He covered his head and leaped off the edge of the tower, swinging back towards Sunnyside with the hooded figure hot on his trail.

Spider-Man had never rushed so carelessly through Queens. He leaped onto the 7 train heading east and sprinted along its roof. The hero heard only the screeches from the rails and his own ragged breaths; any city noise around him was virtually mute. Peter felt trapped in a bubble of oppression. When he reached the front of the train, Spider-Man jumped as far forwards as he could.

For a fleeting moment, Peter's chest unseized; ambient noise and summer heat returned. It was only a brief second later before the hero lost the added forwards momentum and found himself trapped back in that overpowering aura.

Spider-Man hooked around and underneath the elevated train tracks running down Queens Blvd. and hid. He tucked himself away in a rafter and tried to silence his laborious breathing. He watched the hood of the cloak ooze across the roadway beneath him, leaving its ink-black trail of smoke in its wake. As silently as possible, Peter removed his phone from a pocket and, with a quick prayer, unlocked it.

The digital click of the phone immediately grabbed the figure's attention, and its hollow face whipped up to gape at Peter. The boy planted a boot in the thing's vacant eyes and swung away, dialing the first contact he could think of as he did so.

When the call connected, he heard a beleaguered, _"What."_

"Mr. Happy! I-I mean, Hogan! Mr. _Hogan!"_ Spider-Man yelled.

" _What do you want, kid?"_ Happy groaned. _"I'm really busy."_

"There's a dementor in Queens!"

" _A what?"_

"Have you never seen Harry Potter?! The- the- the Kazakhstan guard thingies!"

" _Peter, I swear to god, I put up with a lot of useless texts and calls from you and-"_

"I'm not making this up!" Spider-Man croaked.

" _Well, what does it look like?"_

Spider-Man dodged into an alley and dropped to the ground, pressing himself flat against a dumpster. He sensed the figure entering the alley and whispered, _"Cnt…tlk…"_

" _Huh?"_

"I. can't. talk," Spider-Man hissed into the microphone.

" _Oh. Good. Neither can I. Talk to you later."_ Happy disconnected.

Spider-Man let out a silent scream of frustration and prayed.

The cloaked figure's trail of black smoke swirled from beneath the dumpster and wrapped oppressively around Spider-Man. The frightened teen balled his fist and pulled it back, ready to attempt to fight his way out.

A door slammed down the alley, and a man emerged with a garbage bag in hand.

The sudden return of city noise assaulted Spider-Man's ears. The smoke evaporated, and the looming feelings of dread and fear were gone. The boy realized he hadn't been breathing and sucked in a loud breath, catching the attention of the man down the alley.

"Hey, Spider-Boy, you alright?" the man called.

"S-spider- _Man,_ and yeah, I'm-I'm-I'm fine," he corrected. Heart rate subsiding, the hero shakily stood and looked everywhere for any sign of the figure. "Please tell me you saw that thing?"

"What thing?"

"The, uh, the…black…dementor…thing?"

"You're crazy, kid," the guy replied with a shake of his head and went back inside.

Spider-Man whimpered.

Peter was a mess by the time he got back to his apartment. Every single little flicker of light or blip of noise set his superhuman senses ablaze. The boy expected another mysterious cloaked figure to pop up at any moment.

The key scratched against the lock as Peter inserted it and turned the deadbolt. Peter shut the door, locked it and then took a moment to lean back against the wood and take a breath. He hurried into the kitchen and got a glass bottle of root beer from the fridge.

"Surprise!"

Peter screamed and smashed the bottle against the edge of the counter, brandishing it by its neck as a makeshift weapon.

The only threat was that of a lecture from his bewildered aunt.

"MAY!" Peter exclaimed. He looked down at the root beer dripping down the cabinet face and tossed the rest of the bottle into the sink.

"What the hell, Peter?!" May reprimanded. "Are you alright? Was it that punk Steve again?"

"N-no! I just…um, today got me a little on edge, is all," Peter said. "Sorry about the mess. I'll clean it up."

"No, Pete, don't worry about it. I'll do it. It is your birthday, after all."

"My _birthday_ …" He took another deep breath and dragged a hand down his face.

"Oh, hun." May took her nephew by the shoulders and led him to the bench seat at the table. "You just sit down and rest. Ned'll be here in a bit to celebrate with us."

"Oh, you invited Ned?"

"Well, I figured you'd probably forget, and I knew the more the merrier since this is the first without-" May cut herself off and hesitated momentarily.

Ben.

May refocused on the cleanup. Peter's thoughts drifted, taking him back to that haunting night seven months before.

* * *

_Amity Park — Wednesday, August 10, 20:00_

"Okay, so the first thing you gotta know about living in New York is that you hate New Jersey," Tucker explained.

"Why?" Danny asked.

"I dunno," Tucker said with a shrug. "I don't think *anybody* really knows. It's just the rules of fitting in."

"Okay, genius, what else does he need to know?" Sam asked.

"You're going to not be the only superhero around anymore. I mean, come on, your parents are working for mother-freaking Iron Man."

"Oh man, it would be so cool to meet the rest of the Avengers!" Danny said. "Who's your guys' favorite?"

"Definitely Scarlet Witch," Sam said.

"Her? _Really?_ " Tucker asked, bewildered. "The one who just blew up a bunch of Wakandan aid workers?"

"Favorite Avenger, hands down," Sam answered with finality. "She's still learning. Yeah, there was that whole Lagos thing last month, but she totally kicked ass in Sokovia. Hey, it's not as if Danny's track record is all that perfect either."

"Hey!" Danny protested as he shoved another book into his box. "Just last week I stopped Technus from terrorizing the town with our possessed house!"

"Just last winter, you caused the destruction of Christmas for all of Amity Park just because you pissed off the Ghost Writer."

"Sam has a point, Danny," Tucker said. "You may always save the day in the end, but what happens in the interim is…questionable."

Danny threw a comic book at Tucker's head. The other boy caught it, though, and refolded it for the suitcase.

"Anyway, it's Falcon for me, all the way," Tucker said. "Smart, techy and Captain America's right-hand man."

"Don't you mean *wingman?*" Sam drawled.

Tucker threw his fists in the air. "Augh! How did I MISS that?!"

"He's also a political fugitive."

"Hey, nobody's perfect," Tucker defended. "What about you, Danny?"

"Probably Thor."

"Really, Thor?!" Sam asked with a giggle. "The pretty boy?"

"The _god_ from _outer space,_ yeah."

"I think you pretty much have to say Iron Man thanks to this move, don't you, Danny?"

"I guess. I don't think he likes me, though."

"How can you not trust Iron Man?!" Tucker demanded.

"You saw how he was when he was talking to my parents! I just got a really weird vibe."

"He's the leader of the Avengers now, Danny," Sam said. "You can't blame him for being a little overcautious."

"I can blame him for making my family move. This just reeks!" Danny slammed a NASA book into the box for emphasis. "And what sucks is there's nothing legitimate to be angry about! My parents are working with freaking Iron Man, I get to live in New York City, I don't have to worry about any ghost attacks because there'll be no portal, I'm going to some fancy-shmancy school for free, I can improve my grades for a hopeful future career at NASA without any of the superhero-y distractions…"

"But you're moving away from everything you know and your two best buds in the whole world," Tucker said.

"More like only two buds," Sam teased. When she saw Danny's crestfallen face, she elbowed him and said, "Hey, come on, you can make new friends, and we can always text and FaceTime and stuff. Plus, my parents have those snooty friends on Long Island we just saw last month, so maybe we'll fly out there again. Grandma said I can probably convince them to let me visit if we go."

"As if they'd ever let you visit _me_. The Mansons have had a vendetta against the Fentons since you first moved to town in elementary school," Danny griped, but he smiled anyway.

The Imperial March from _Star Wars_ interrupted their conversation.

"Ugh, speak of the devil," Sam muttered. She answered her phone's incoming call and greeted, "Hi, Mom…. Yeah, no I'm-... Well, fine, can you just give me two min-?" Sam abruptly cut off speaking and glared at her darkened phone screen. "Love you too, *Mom,*" she mocked and slipped the phone into her backpack.

"Darth Vader calling in her generals?" Tucker teased.

"That would imply I have any sort of power in her eyes," Sam complained. "I gotta get home. See you guys at the pool tomorrow."

"See ya," Danny and Tucker chorused.

Once Sam had gone, Danny turned to Tucker and said with a chuckle, "I wonder how Mrs. Manson would react to having Darth Vader's theme as her personalized ringtone."

* * *

_Queens — Thursday, August 11, 03:25_

_Spider-Man!_

_Spider-Man!_

_Peter!_

"Peter!"

Peter gasped awake and punched his attacker in a panic. He leapt up to the underside of his top bunk, ready to fight his way out.

But then, the adrenaline subsided. The street bled into his room. The crowds disappeared into action figures. And the aggressor became his aunt moaning on the floor.

"Ow, Peter! What the hell?" May complained, rolling slightly in the pool of light coming from the hallway.

Jaw agape, Peter hoped beyond hope the darkness of the room had kept May from seeing him sticking to the underside of the bunk. He bounced off the mattress and dropped to her side.

"Oh my god! May, I'm so sorry!" Peter exclaimed. "Please— _please_ forgive me! I didn't mean to!"

May didn't respond for a second, instead investing her energy into sitting up while Peter kneeled beside her. She touched a hand to her nose and frowned at her nephew. "When did _you_ learn to fight like _that?!_ " May asked.

"Um, heh heh, we had a martial arts unit in P.E.?" he offered. "I'm so sorry, May."

"No! No," she said, a little softer in tone. "You were having a nightmare."

Downcast, Peter nodded.

"Was it Uncle Ben again?"

Peter nodded again, tears welling.

"Oh, baby, come here," May said and pulled the boy to her chest. She gently rocked back and forth. "I miss him too, Pete. I miss him, too."

* * *

_Amity Park — Tuesday, August 30, 19:45_

"Urk...urk! Come _on_ , you stupid box! _Danny!_ "

Danny chuckled to himself and backtracked to Jazz's open bedroom door. A closed box sat askew in the middle of Jazz's floor.

"What's up, Jazz?" Danny asked.

"I overloaded the box with psychology books and now I can't move it," Jazz explained with a huff.

"Do you really need it all?"

"It's my senior year!" Jazz defended. "I need all the resources I can get for my application essays and senior project."

"I guess it's safe to assume they don't have psychology books in New York," Danny deadpanned and crossed his arms.

"I know these books inside and out. It'll be so much easier to use them as a basis. And I have to bring something to make Queens feel like home. What about you? What are _you_ bringing?"

"NASA stuff. Comic books. The usual."

"What, no ghost stuff?"

"Look, being Danny Phantom is great and all, but to be honest, I'm looking forward to having a break."

"So you're going to go a year without saving people?"

A light frown adorned Danny's face. "I—I don't know. I haven't really thought about it."

"Being a hero is a big part of your life now. All of ours. I can't imagine it's going to be an easy adjustment to just be normal again."

"Ha, *normal,*" Danny repeated with a bark of a laugh. "Kind of a punchline when it comes to our family."

"Well, as normal as possible," Jazz conceded. "Have you ever tried going any length of time without going ghost or using your powers at all?"

Danny thought for a moment. "I think there was a free afternoon last winter…"

Jazz chuckled.

"It'll be weird, that's for sure," Danny continued. "But...New York has so many heroes already. And just because there won't be ghosts doesn't mean I can't transform and go for a quick flight or something."

"Maybe the spider kid could use your help fighting local crime," Jazz suggested.

"Psh, as if. No, for once I just want to blend into the background. Anyway, did you need my help with something?"

"Oh, yeah. Can you carry the box downstairs to the RV, please?"

"What's in it for me?"

Jazz glared.

"Huh. Nothing, I guess," Danny wondered and turned to leave. "See ya later."

"Oh, come on! Where's that stupid hero complex when I need it?!" Jazz sassed.

Danny quirked up an eyebrow.

Jazz rolled her eyes. Doing her best impression of a Disney princess, she clasped her hands, tilted her head, fluttered her eyelids and went up into a tendu à la seconde. "My sweet, strong little brother, will you help this fair lass move her belongings to the assault vehicle downstairs?"

"Gag." Danny picked up the box anyway. He balanced it on his left index finger and teased, "I don't know what you're complaining about, anyway. It's light as a feather!"

"Superpowered jerk," Jazz grumbled and dropped her pose.

"Melodramatic wimp," Danny replied. "Hey, that's right! I can still use my powers to annoy you!" Danny spied his sister's phone on the bedspread, swiped it and shoved the device intangibly into her wall. "Thanks for the reminder. I'm feeling a lot better now."

Jazz's jaw dropped. "Danny! What the heck?!" The phone pinged with an alert, and Jazz clawed helplessly at the wallpaper.

" _Sorry, can't hear you! I'm too busy helping you carry your stuff downstairs!"_ Danny called from the stairwell.

* * *

_Amity Park — Tuesday, August 30, 22:10_

"YO, VAL!" Phantom shouted.

The Red Huntress pulled up on her hoverboard and saw her nemesis hovering over the park. She growled and immediately jetted towards him with a feral snarl on her face.

Phantom realized she wasn't slowing down and panicked. He balled all his limbs, squinted his eyes shut and let gravity take over, dropping out of the way just in time.

Huntress recovered immediately and banked for another pass. Much to her surprise, though, she felt a couple of arms hugged around her torso. A quick glance over her shoulder revealed Phantom's glaring face.

"Will you cool it for just, like, _two seconds?!_ " Phantom snapped.

"Gah!" Huntress exclaimed and peeled off his arms. She did pause her flight, however, and had a gun at her side ready to go in case of anything. "What's your deal, ghost?"

"How do you always manage to make that sound like a swear word?" Phantom muttered with a shake of his head. "Look, I just want to pass on some information so you don't go crazy."

"And why would I go crazy?"

"Because you don't like not knowing things," he retorted and crossed his arms, "and my sudden disappearance is sure to raise some questions."

"You're going away?" Huntress asked, halfway between incredulity and joy. "Why?"

"Business takes me elsewhere," he answered vaguely. "Word on the street is that ghosts aren't going to be as much of a problem here anymore."

"So you're going to go terrorize some other poor, defenseless city?"

Phantom grit his teeth, curled his fingers and grunted. "How can you _still. not. believe me?!_ What do I have to do to prove I'm not an enemy?"

"It's impossible for a ghost to not be an enemy."

"FINE!" Phantom absolutely screamed. " _FINE._ I give up. Screw you, Val. Have a nice life. Best wishes." He began to drift away.

"Warmest regards." Huntress withdrew the gun and aimed, but Phantom was already gone.

* * *

_Amity Park — Friday, September 2, 21:45_

Danny was just putting his last notebook into his backpack when there was a soft knock at his open bedroom door.

"Sweetie?" his mother began. "Will you—will you come downstairs with me?"

"Oh. Uh, yeah, Mom, what's up?" he asked and moved the backpack to the floor leaning against his desk.

"It's time," Maddie said with a small nod.

"It's time?" Danny parroted.

Without another word, Maddie dropped the eye contact and withdrew from the doorway. Danny followed her downstairs and through the kitchen until they were descending into the basement. Jack and Jazz were already waiting at the control panel for the Fenton Portal.

"Glad you could join us, Danno!" Jack greeted.

Jazz settled for a bemused look at her brother before leaning back against a counter.

Maddie joined her husband and turned to face their kids. After a nostalgic appraisal of the vacant lab, she said, "We would not have the opportunity we do now if it weren't for this portal. It legitimized our lives' work, it provided answers to so many questions, and it caught the attention of the world's protectors. The Fentons have the chance to protect Earth from a threat it doesn't fully understand yet."

"This old girl has done a lot for our family," Jack added with a fond rub of its frame.

Danny and Jazz exchanged an extremely loaded look.

"But now, for the first time since activating it, we are shutting the portal down," their father finished. He moved aside and said, "Mads, if you would do the honors?"

Maddie stepped forward and raised her hand to the control panel. She typed in an administrator code and pressed a large, red, pulsating button before embracing Jack in a side hug. All four Fentons turned to the mouth of the portal.

There was a double-beep from the panel before the mouth of the portal warped. It began to shrink inwards in a slow spiral, gradually exposing the tubes and mechanisms swimming with ectoplasm. The inter-dimensional doorway became a vertically rotating mass of green before receding into the supply nozzle at the back of the portal chamber. The omnipresent mechanical whisper, after a year of providing non-stop white noise, which had echoed continuously in the lab, faded with the dimming of the ectoplasmic control tubes webbing throughout the portal's machinery.

Each Fenton had a small tear at the corners of their eyes for their own reasons. The lab felt lifeless, hollow, empty without the perpetual echo of the portal. After a few more moments of silence, the parents tore themselves away to pack the last things in the lab which they would need in New York.

Danny found himself hovering at the mouth of the portal chamber. He looked at the opening towering over him. With a furtive glance over his shoulder—and a mental note of Jazz disconnecting the power source—he meandered inside and looked at the technology surrounding him.

Danny suddenly found himself adjacent to the original power button. He paused and lifted a shaky hand to run his thumb along the subtle burn marks marring its housing. The portal had done a lot for him indeed.

"Danny!" Maddie snapped.

Danny pulled his hand away as if it had been burned and looked out into the lab.

His mother stood frowning with her hands on her hips. "Get out of there, young man! That could seriously hurt you!"

"S-sorry!" he stuttered and sheepishly exited the portal.

"Honestly, sometimes it's like you and Jazz don't listen to our safety briefings," Maddie chastised.

"Alright, kiddos, put your last things in the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle and then go get some sleep," Jack ordered. With a theatrical flair, he added, "We leave at dawn!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This week's Easter Eggs and references:
> 
> \- The Imperial March: could not possible have been more explicit as a cultural reference than it already is. Also it's in the running for being my favorite leitmotif in cinematic history.
> 
> \- Who caught the OTHER subtle Star Wars reference? :D
> 
> \- Dementors: the guardians at Azkaban prison in the Harry Potter series. I'm sure you know Peter meant Azkaban and NOT Kazakhstan, the Central Asian, former Soviet republic lol
> 
> \- Shout-out to Thor/Chris Hemsworth for being 100% #goals.
> 
> \- Technus possessing the Fentons' house and ruining Christmas for all of Amity Park: referencing the "Identity Crisis" and "The Fright Before Christmas" episodes for season 2 of DP.
> 
> \- Tendu à la seconde is a ballet pose where the body leans over onto one leg while the foot of the other goes up on pointe. (Describing that as best as I can since I have never done or had any exposure to the ballet, apart from one doomed date with [1] a girl who had ADHD and [2] an open Frappuccino sample bar at the event...)
> 
> \- "Best Wishes." / "Warmest regards.": one of the most beautifully sarcastic exchanges from Schitt's Creek. T.
> 
> Next up are the first days in Queens as the Fentons adjust to their new surroundings and the Parkers welcome some new neighbors. As always, feedback, reactions and positive criticism are welcome!
> 
> NOTE: As chapter 3 is still in progress, you can go check out a floor plan I made to help myself block out the action (along with some notes about my process) [here on my Tumblr](https://agentianlegend.tumblr.com/post/625285222584483840/dp-x-mcu-spiderman-fire-with-fire-fic-diagram).


	3. Welcome to Queens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Fentons arrive in Queens, Danny explores with varying degrees of enjoyment and I go slightly overboard with the references and Easter eggs.
> 
> If you would like a visual aid in understanding the layouts of the Parkers and Fentons' apartments, you can go check out a floor plan I made to help myself block out the action (along with some notes about my process) [here on my Tumblr](https://agentianlegend.tumblr.com/post/625285222584483840/dp-x-mcu-spiderman-fire-with-fire-fic-diagram). (Do take note that this was hand drawn and slightly out of proportion; the Parker's apartment should be about 2/3 of its current size in relation to the Fentons' place.)
> 
> Keep a sharp eye out for Easter eggs and references. There's a CRAP ton this month.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "This is dialogue."
> 
> "This is alternative dialogue, meaning whispered or spoken from a distance such as on the phone."
> 
> 'This in Italics is thought.'
> 
> This (in italics) and THIS and *this* are emphasis. The *this* emphasis is more along the lines of the snarky or sarcastic.
> 
> [This in Italics is digital text, such as notifications on a computer or smartphone. It also represents A.I. voices, such as Karen or F.R.I.D.A.Y./"Friday" (because I really don't feel like typing out the full acronym with periods every time she comes up).]
> 
> I do not own Danny Phantom nor Spider-Man.
> 
> Ch. 03 originally published: Friday, August 7, 2020

_George Washington Bridge, New York City, NY_ _—_ _Saturday, September 3, 17:45_

Jazz sighed and slumped against the car's side window. A quick glance at the speedometer confirmed it: 0 mph. "Hey, let's move on Labor Day weekend. That's a GREAT idea."

Her cell phone's ringtone began playing over the stereo before Siri announced: _[Call from: Mother - Cell]_

Jazz accepted the call. "Hi, Mom."

" _Hello, Jazz!"_ came her mother's voice over the speakers.

" _Hey, Jazzypants!"_ her father added. _"You're on speaker!"_

" _How are you kids holding up?"_ Maddie asked.

"Oh, we're fine." Jazz added with a sigh, "Bored, but fine."

" _Killer traffic, huh?"_ Maddie agreed. _"Well, it's only another half an hour before we arrive, so hang in there!"_

"Half an hour?!" Jazz protested. "But we're already in the city! We're practically there!"

" _Welcome to urban living, Jazzy,"_ Jack replied with the slightest grumble.

Jazz sighed again.

" _How about you, Danny? Are you doing alright?"_ Maddie asked.

Jazz froze in her seat before sending a furtive glance to the passenger seat. "Oh, he's, uh…asleep."

" _How is he sleeping through this conversation? Are we not on speaker?"_ Maddie asked before gasping. _"Jasmine Fenton, are you talking on your phone while driving?! We explicitly said you were only allowed to drive the other car if you use Bluetooth for-"_

"No! Mom! Don't worry, he's wearing his noise-cancelling earphones."

" _Well, alright, if you say so. Just—take in some city views as we cross into the city! We won't always have such a nice view of the West Side!"_

"I've been taking in the city views for ten minutes!" Jazz snapped.

" _We'll call you after we cross into Astoria, alright?"_

"Fine. I can't wait to be there."

" _Bye, Jazz. Love you!"_

"Love you too." Jazz ended the call.

Almost on cue, the barometric pressure inside the car shifted slightly, and Danny materialized in the vacant passenger seat with a white to-go bag in hand.

"You get the stuff?" Jazz asked.

"Yep!" Danny replied with a pop on the 'P.' He clicked his seatbelt back in place and fished out a goodie for Jazz. "Magnolia Bakery, right where you said it would be. Google Maps didn't really understand being able to fly _over_ city blocks instead of walking at street level, but whatever."

"Thank _God_. This traffic is killing me." Jazz gladly took the offered pastry bag. "At least it's only another few weeks until you start driving lessons."

"Definitely not looking forward to learning to drive in freakin' New York City."

"Oh, Mom called. You were napping with your earphones on if she asks."

* * *

 _43rd Street, Sunnyside_ _—_ _One Hour of Traffic Later..._

The elevator dinged at the seventh floor. Each Fenton tumbled out with suitcases and bags in hand.

"Alright, Fentons, we're looking for 7A!" Jack announced. The patriarch glanced to the right in search of their apartment door.

"Dad, it's over here," Danny said and led the way to the left.

Danny produced his copy of the apartment key and opened the craftsman-style door, revealing a quaint apartment which Stark Industries had furnished for them. One of the bedrooms opened directly across from the front door, and the entryway opened perpendicularly onto a formal dining area. To the right of the table was the main living space with numerous windows looking out into the canopies of the street-side trees beyond.

Danny meandered into the kitchen to the left of the dining area. An archway connecting the two spaces had a counter peninsula and breakfast bar filling most of it. The kitchen itself was very spacious, wrapping behind the elevator shaft, and glistened with a hypermodern aesthetic. The kitchen led to a hallway beyond another arch which looped to the far end of the dining area.

Maddie peeked her head out of the hallway. "We'll take the master off the kitchen," she said, "but you two decide between the others."

"I call this room!" Jazz announced from the far end of the living room. "Danny, you get the one by the door."

"Oh, you mean the one by the hallway? The one which gets to listen to the elevator ding all day?" Danny sassed. "Thank you; so generous."

Jazz came up to the bar and leaned far over the counter. "Yeah, and a lot closer to the front door if you need to sneak in or out on foot," she hissed and walked around the bar and built-in cabinets at the end. She said in a louder voice, "I'm going back down for another load."

"Meet you down there," Danny replied and shuffled into his room.

It was a pleasant enough space. The room was L-shaped, hooking off to the right around the neighboring apartment. To Danny's immediate left was a closet with sliding doors. Just beyond it was the bed occupying the remaining length of the left-hand wall. Straight ahead were two vertically sliding windows overlooking the street, one of which opened onto a fire escape, while a third opened adjacent to them on the far right-hand wall. A desk occupied the corner with a dresser pressed up against the inside of the L's shorter leg. It wasn't a large space, especially compared to Danny's room back in Amity Park, but their apartment was in the heart of Sunnyside, after all.

"Well," Danny mused to himself and tossed his backpack onto the bed, "I guess I'm home."

Danny decided to open all three windows to clear out the stale air which had collected since it was last occupied. On opening the third window overlooking the building's entryway, he heard a terrific crash from the neighboring apartment. The second window down was open, and there was some sort of kerfuffle happening inside which was disturbing the curtains.

"Hey, Mom?" Danny called back inside, "do we know anything about the neighbors?"

" _Other than there's a boy your age on this floor, no!"_ she replied from the bowels of the apartment.

Danny returned his attention to the window. It was now closed, and the curtains were just settling. Some movement at the roofline caught his eye, but it was too late for him to identify anything.

"Hey!" Jazz barked from the walkway down below, "Quit bird watching and help me carry our stuff upstairs!"

"Ugh, are you capable of being not annoying for at least two seconds?!" Danny shouted down.

"It's been a whole minute!" she replied.

"You were in the *elevator!* It _doesn't count!"_ Danny snapped and withdrew from the window in a huff.

Danny looked around the room. It felt too lifeless. All the walls were still barren, and the room lacked any sense of belonging to him. The boy turned around and crashed straight into the wall. "This room is too small!" he complained to nobody in particular. Danny then unboxed some hanging clothes and shoved them in the closet before thrusting a box against the wall using his sneaker.

"Mom, what's for dinner? I'm hungry!" Danny called out into the apartment.

"It's too early for dinner," Jazz answered, exiting her room with a few books to put on the living room shelves.

Danny woke up his phone. "It's 7:00 already!"

"Dinner here isn't until, like, 9:00," Jazz said.

"That's ridiculous!"

"Welcome to New York," the girl replied as she returned to her room.

" _I grabbed a couple frozen dinners at the store just in case,"_ Maddie replied from the master bedroom. _"Have one of those, and then we'll go out later."_

Stalking to the kitchen, Danny grumbled to himself, "Frozen dinners. Move all the way from Middle o' Nowhere, Ohio to the biggest city in the US, and my only choice is a frozen dinner." He ripped open the freezer and paused after grabbing one of the boxed meals. He groaned and shouted, "Why did you get Kid Cuisine?! Who even eats Kid Cuisine in this family?! I'm fifteen!"

"Just shut up and eat it!" Jazz barked.

"I was talking to Mom!"

"You were shouting at everybody!"

" _Kids, stop arguing!"_ their mother shouted.

"This apartment is smaller than my old bedroom!" Danny snapped. "Every conversation we ever have is going to be with everybody!"

The doorbell buzzed.

" _WHAT?!"_ Danny snapped, then realized, "…Oh." He went to the door and opened it. "Hi."

"Hi," the patiently waiting woman greeted.

Danny took in her straight brown hair, voluptuous figure and 80s mom jeans and quickly classified her as…an indelicate designation for attractive maternal figures. She held a foil-covered plate in her hands.

"I'm May Parker, your neighbor in 7B," the woman said and then peeked around the door jamb. "I'm not interrupting a fight, am I?" she asked.

"Oh, no, just…I've been in more spacious broom closets," Danny joked. "Come on in, Mrs. Parker. Though we're not really settled in yet."

"Thank you." May came inside and casually glanced around the common space. "I heard you guys were moving in today and made some cookies to welcome you to the building."

"Oh, praise God. I don't have to eat Kid Cuisine!" Danny exclaimed and gleefully took the plate from her.

Maddie and Jack came out of the master suite. "Hello?" came Maddie's tentative greeting.

"Hi! I'm May Parker. From 7B?" May said and shook Maddie's hand.

"I'm Maddie and this is my husband Jack," Maddie replied.

"Charmed," May said as she shook Jack's hand.

"Is it just you next door?" Jack asked.

"No, I have my nephew, Peter. He's out right now; otherwise, I would've dragged him along to say hi."

"Oh, just you and your nephew?" Maddie commented.

"Yeah. It used to be the three of us, until last year when his uncle, uh—" May's voice dropped off.

Jack and Maddie exchanged a knowing glance. "Well, Jack's here if you ever need the help of a man around the house," Maddie offered.

May smiled. "I thought _I_ was supposed to lend _you_ the helping hand," she said.

"Ha ha, no! I'm pretty handy," Jack said and leaned in conspiratorially. "Built a whole basement lab myself, you know."

"Not completely by yourself," Maddie reminded him through a false smile.

Jack chuckled and threw an arm around his wife. "Well, I'm good for grunt work and mechanical stuff, anyway."

"A lab?" May asked. "Are you scientists?"

"Ectologists," Maddie replied.

May nodded, though it was obvious she didn't quite understand.

"We study ectoplasmic-based beings and their parallel dimension via quantum bridging."

May appeared even more lost.

"Ghosts!" Jack stated proudly. "We study and hunt ghosts."

May's eyes widened momentarily before she schooled the stupor from her expression. "Well, to be fair, that's not the _strangest_ profession I've heard of, living in Queens."

"And now we're officially not crazy!" Jack added.

"We just signed an R&D contract with Stark Industries for a year," Maddie explained. "That's why we moved here from Ohio."

"Oh, I see," May said. "Didn't I read somewhere that they're selling Stark Tower though?"

"Avengers Tower, and yes," Maddie said. "But Stark Industries will continue to occupy twenty floors of lab space indefinitely."

"And what do you do?" Jack asked.

"I'm a nurse over at Mount Sinai Queens in Astoria, though I volunteer at the VA clinic too. It's only a couple blocks away from here."

"Well, that's good news," Maddie said. "Danny's always coming home with scrapes and injuries. It'll be nice to know someone's nearby in case something beyond simple first aid is necessary."

"Really? What sort of trouble does he get up to?" May asked with a glance at the suddenly sheepish Danny.

"Oh, nothing too serious, I'm sure," Maddie replied, also resting her gaze on her son.

Danny finished chewing a mouthful of cookie and swallowed it, chuckling nervously. "I'm just…super clumsy."

Jack guffawed and slapped Danny on the shoulder, sending a cookie on the plate's edge tumbling to the floor. "This poor kid started breaking so many dishes last year, we had to buy disposable till he got better!"

May laughed and then moved towards the door. "Well, I hope you enjoy your time here in New York. Why don't you all come over for dinner after you've settled in? Sometime next week."

"Oh, that would be great!" Maddie cooed. "Wouldn't it, Jack?"

"If there's fudge, I'm in!" the man replied.

Maddie rolled her eyes.

"I'll get out of your hair for now," May said, "and hopefully Peter will materialize sometime soon so I can introduce you. Oh! Maddie, remind me later to add you to the Sunnyside Moms Facebook group."

"Sounds great, Mrs. Parker," Maddie said.

"Oh, call me May," the woman cheerily corrected. "Bye now!"

"Bye!" Danny called from his perch on the arm of the sofa as he inhaled another cookie.

* * *

 _Sunnyside_ — _Sunday, 08:25_

Danny awoke rather peacefully for a change. His bedroom's windows let in ambient morning light, given the fact he had apparently forgotten to shut the blinds before falling asleep. He eventually motivated himself to roll over and check the time on his phone.

_*SLAM*_

"Ow!" Danny winced in pain and opened his eyes. His new bed being pushed up into the corner meant that the nightstand in his Amity Park bedroom's layout had been replaced with a wall. He rolled the other way and located his phone on the edge of the desk right next to his head.

After responding to a couple texts from Sam and Tucker, Danny soon motivated himself to get out of bed and go in search of breakfast. Still half-asleep, he shuffled out of his bedroom and froze upon seeing everyone in the common space. Jazz lounged on the sofa with a steaming mug of tea while Jack drank coffee next to her. The lighthearted banter of _Daybreak with Mike Pomeroy and Colleen Peck_ emanated from the TV.

"Good morning, Danny!" Maddie greeted from the kitchen. A pan sizzled behind her. "Breakfast in ten."

"…What's going on?" Danny asked, his head bobbing like a confused chicken.

"What are you talking about, Danno?" Jack asked.

"It's 8:30 in the morning and everyone's _here,_ " the boy answered.

"Well, our work and your school don't start till Tuesday," Jack replied. "What's so strange about that?"

"The last time we had a normal, quiet morning at home as a family was…never," Danny said.

"Well, this contract with Stark Industries could be a godsend," Maddie said. "We've been sorely lacking in bonding time as a family, apart from that ill-fated desert camping trip last spring. Moving to Queens is probably the best thing we could do to rebuild the Fenton family unit."

Danny unfroze and went to get himself some coffee. "Yay, more time up in each other's business," he muttered.

"Would it really be so awful to learn a little more about each other?" Maddie chided.

Danny left the question unanswered.

After a morning of unpacking and settling in, Danny was getting stir-crazy. He decided to scout the neighborhood as an excuse to get out of the house. He laced up his shoes and announced, "I'm going exploring. See you guys later."

"Okay, be safe!" Maddie answered from the living area. "Take some money in case you get hungry. Be back by dinner, okay?"

"Okay," Danny agreed, for the first time feeling confident in being able to make the curfew.

* * *

_Manhattan — Ten Minutes Later_

Danny Phantom rocketed along the Queensboro Bridge. His previous venture into the city to get pastries from Magnolia Bakery had been far too quick for him to enjoy the sights. The boy stared in awe at the glittering beauty of the skyscrapers around him, reflecting and dodging the afternoon sun's rays into the city's iconic concrete canyons. He arced over Central Park and turned down Broadway. Times Square's bright billboards and bustling street level reflected in Phantom's luminescent eyes, and a smile graced his face as he continued south towards Avengers Tower.

* * *

"WOO!" Spider-Man whooped as he swung around Avengers Tower onto Broadway, grateful for a chance to play around Midtown until a sudden mental tingling threw off his rhythm.

"Whoa!"

" _OOF!"_

Spider-Man and another boy slammed full-force into each other. In a fleeting nanosecond, they both gasped as they hovered momentarily before gravity intervened.

Danny Phantom recognized that they were beginning to plummet sixty-odd stories to the ground at about the same time as the other hero.

"Oh crap!" they exclaimed simultaneously as each fumbled to get ahold of the other.

"Hold on, I got you!" they once again shouted in unison.

All at once, the ghost warped himself through the air to catch the other teen just as a red and blue clad arm extended instinctively, shooting a web at Phantom to save him. Unfortunately, this caused both boys to collide again with greater force, and they plummeted further.

"Oh, come on, this is ridiculous!" Phantom moaned. Just before either could splat against the crowds below, he wrapped his arms firmly around the local's spandexed torso and turned them both intangible so they would fall through the masses rather than onto them.

Spider-Man began to hyperventilate, it being his first time existing _inside_ solid earth. "Holy sh-!"

"Calm down, we're not dead yet!" Phantom insisted.

Phantom redirected them upwards, and Spider-Man briefly marveled at the darkened environment engulfing them. Subway tunnels deep below, underground infrastructure around and the sidewalks, vehicles, pedestrians and skyscrapers above surrounded them in wispy, X-ray-like aquamarine outlines. They resurfaced, the world returned to normal and his ghostly companion took them to the top of the nearest skyscraper. He set Spider-Man down and landed a couple of feet away.

"Are you okay?" they chorused while dusting off their costumes. They both looked up angrily at each other's words.

"Hey, quit copying me!" they snapped as their final unison cry.

"Okay, this is getting ridiculous," Phantom blurted, but visibly brightened when he saw the jinx had been broken. "Who are you?"

"Who are _you?_ "

"I'm Danny Phantom. Do you seriously not know who I am? I thought the whole world was after the ghost kid from Ohio," he commented drily.

"Ghost? You-you're a _ghost?_ "

"Well...yeah? Isn't it obvious?"

"You're not glowing..."

"Yes I am!" Phantom retorted and gestured down at himself. His self-righteousness dimmed upon noting the glare of the afternoon sun. "Well, I _am,_ but you just can't see it super well because of the sun."

"If you say so."

"Dude, of course I'm a ghost. I was _flying_ when you hit me."

"I hit you?! _You_ hit _me!_ " Spider-Man argued with a dramatic flail of his hands.

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

Phantom crossed his arms. "Well if I did, it was an accident, because who else would I expect to be flying sixty stories above the ground anyway?"

"Next to Avengers Tower? Where there are Avengers? Who fly?" the local hero pointed out.

"That's—that's fair. Alright, so let's just call it a *mutual hitting* of each other at the same time," Phantom suggested.

"Fine."

"So, who are you then? Wait a minute...you're the Spider-Kid!"

"Spider- _Man_ ," the local hero mumbled with contempt and sheepishly shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"Spider… _Man?!_ You're younger than I am!" Phantom laughed.

"Hey, come on, dude, I got an image to keep up," Spider-Man whined. "No one would take a fift- uh, a young... _guy_ seriously."

" 'Fift-'? You're fifteen?"

"No!" the webslinger spat before hesitating. "...Maybe. So? How old are you?"

"No one really knows," Phantom replied with a shrug.

"Wouldn't _you_ know, though?"

"Eh. So what if I do? It keeps the mystery alive, which matters when you have multiple government agencies gunning for you."

"Oh. That must suck."

"Meh. Such is life. Or... _after_ -life." Suddenly, a short burst of music came from Phantom's pocket and he whipped out a cell phone, his eyes rolling at whatever alert showed up. "Well, looks like I gotta go. See you around, Spider-Man! And don't worry about the age thing," he added as he lifted off, his legs disappearing into a ghostly tail. "And just so you know: I was 14."

"But _when_ were you 14?" Spider-Man asked nobody, as the ghost had already shot off towards Queens. His thoughts stopped altogether on one particularly confusing realization. "Wait…why does a ghost need a cell phone?"

"HEY!"

Spider-Man leaped, twisting in the air to face the source of the outburst and landing in a defensive stance. He dropped his defenses slightly upon recognition. "Happy?"

"You're not supposed to be here! What are you doing on Avengers Tower?" Happy Hogan barked, emerging from the roof access door. "The security system has been going crazy."

"I just ran into a ghost and we saved each other," Spider-Man explained.

"You saved a ghost?"

"Well, we were falling-"

"Was it another dementia thing?" Happy interrupted.

"Dementor, and no. He said his name was Danny Phantom?"

"Wait...Danny Phantom? Are you sure?" Happy asked and pulled out his phone. He opened a holographic image and held it up. "This guy?"

Spider-Man's eye apertures squinted as he leaned in for a look. "Yeah, that's him."

Happy sighed. "Stay away from that spook until we know more. Tony's investigating him."

"Why?"

"Phantom is very powerful and very unpredictable. One day, he's saving a bus of kids from drowning; the next, he's kidnapping the mayor."

"He seemed nice enough to me…"

"Look, kid, we don't know him, and we don't trust him. So just be careful for now, alright? We brought in some ghost experts from Phantom's town to help."

"Help what?"

"Fight, understand, work with...whatever. Now get out of here; I have to finish setting up the new ghost lab."

* * *

 _Calvary Cemetery, Queens_ _—_ _Monday,_ _15:10_

" _Okay keep walking,"_ Tucker instructed.

Danny sighed and switched his phone to the other hand, his arm hurting from holding it up for the active video call. "Why again are you having me walk through a cemetery on my last day of freedom before school starts?"

" _Just trust me. Right here."_

Danny turned right onto a side path which arced under a tree back in the direction from which he'd come.

" _Alright, now up the hill to your left a bit...aaaaannnnd…stop! Now look back down towards the mausoleums under the trees."_

"Hey, look...a road."

" _But do you know *which* road?"_

"Should I?"

Tucker shoved a couple cheese puffs into his cheeks and squinted his eyes. _"I'll make him an offer he can't refuse,"_ he rasped.

Danny's eyes widened, and the boy gasped. "Oh my god! It's _The Godfather!_ Don Corleone, he's buried here?! This is awesome, Tuck!"

" _Right?!"_

Danny noticed some quick movement just beyond the trees. A figure had been kneeling at a grave but took off before Danny could identify them. "Huh, that's weird."

" _What?"_

"Somebody else was here but they ran away."

" _What grave were they looking at?"_ Tucker asked.

"Lemme see." Danny strode along the path to the approximate location where he'd seen the movement. "There's a newer headstone here. The rest are all pretty old."

" _Who is it?"_

Danny leaned in for a better look. "Benjamin Parker. Died last year. He wasn't that old, either."

" _Poor guy."_

"Yeah. I wonder who was here, though? They took off really fast when they saw me."

" _Who knows? I will say this, though: Ben Parker totally scored when it came to his plot's location."_

"You always find the silver lining, don't you, Tuck?" Danny teased with an eye roll.

* * *

 _Avengers Tower, Manhattan_ _— 17:30_

"Well done, Happy," Tony surmised with an approving nod.

"Thank you, sir."

The lab space was virtually ready for the Fentons to occupy. There were expansive countertops, multiple stations, and hermetically sealed, reinforced environments, in addition to a large alcove for the construction of a portal or storage of large machinery should either be necessary. One wall offered panoramic views of Broadway, another an overlook for the larger training bay and workshop below.

"Friday, are the Fentons' biometrics in the tower security database?"

 _[Not yet, boss,]_ the A.I. replied. _[I will configure their credentials when they arrive in the morning.]_

"And not a moment too soon," Tony drawled. "You said Phantom was here?"

"That's what Peter told me," Happy said. "Phantom had already left before I got to the roof, but the kid gave a positive ID when I showed him a photo."

"That's not good. The Fentons haven't even set foot in the tower and the wild card is already staking out the place. Their first priority is updating Friday's security systems to detect and defend against ghost infiltration."

"How long will that take?"

"Friday?" Tony asked, looking absently at the ceiling.

_[I already logged an unknown reading yesterday afternoon when Phantom was here. Once the Fentons provide a full breakdown of ectoplasmic energy signatures and calibrate my systems to recognize it, it'll be a matter of minutes to have the tower on alert.]_

"And then to get the shields up?"

_[As long as it takes for the Fentons to fabricate the hardware. Once I have the schematics, we can have the components printed and machined within hours.]_

"For once, everything's going according to plan," Happy said.

_[He still hasn't contacted Miss Potts.]_

"Almost everything," Happy quipped with an arched eyebrow. "You _know_ she'll want to hear you're doing better."

Tony sighed. "Way to rat me out, Friday."

_[Would you like to see how quickly you fall apart without me, boss?]_

* * *

_Sunnyside_ _—_ _Tuesday, September 6, 02:00_

Danny jolted awake to the sound of sirens. He leapt out of bed and rushed to the window. A branch obscured his view, so he threw his door open and sprinted to the windows in the living room, tripping over the cord of a floor lamp in the process.

Jazz's bedroom door creaked open. "Danny?" his sister croaked. "What's wrong?"

"Sirens! Something's wrong! There's an emergency!"

"Danny, those are the third sirens this hour," Jazz deadpanned. "Welcome to life in the city. Go back to sleep and rest up for school tomorrow. ...Today."

Jazz went back into her room and slammed the door. Danny, now feeling awkward and coming down from an adrenaline high, made his way back to his bedroom and collapsed into the mattress. He sighed and tried to fall back asleep.

* * *

A barely-sentient, fully dressed zombie emerged from Danny's room at 7:00 Tuesday morning. Danny shuffled across the living room towards the shared bath and found Jazz already applying moisturizer to her face at the sink.

"Jazz."

She turned to face her brother without stopping. "Good morning, Danny. Did you sleep well after the sirens?"

Danny waited for her to understand whatever he was trying to communicate.

"What is it?" she asked and returned her attention to the mirror.

"Can this wait? I'd like to get ready too."

"No it cannot wait," she said and picked up her foundation. "I care a lot more about looking good for the first day than you do, so I get dibs."

"But I do _have to_ get ready," Danny insisted.

"In a minute."

"Jazz-" Danny began, setting his cell phone onto the counter and shoving further into the bathroom.

"I'm a little busy!"

"Jazz, you have a free first period. You don't even have to get to school until later!"

"Geez, Danny. Will you chill out for, like, _two seconds?_ " Jazz demanded and began trying to force him out of the bathroom.

"No, Jazz, I need to get ready too!" he snapped, fighting against her for control of the sink.

"No! I was here first, you little twerp!" she growled. "Unlike you, *I* actually _want_ to put effort into my appearance because I want to make a good impression."

"What, you think this just *happens*?" Danny sassed.

"You're being ridiculous!" Jazz bit out.

" _You're_ being ridiculous! You don't even normally wear makeup!"

"NO!" Jazz hooked the back of Danny's ankle with her foot and shoved his chest, sending him off-balance. Jazz forced Danny out of the room as he stumbled.

Danny quickly recovered, but the door slammed and locked in his face. "Augh, why did you choose THIS morning to all of a sudden start acting like a girl?!" Danny huffed. He briefly considered phasing back in and overshadowing Jazz out of the way until his mother came out of the master suite with a coffee mug in hand. He turned his attention back to the bathroom door and asked, "Will you at least give me my phone back?"

The door popped open to reveal Jazz holding his phone in one hand and her foundation in the other. Danny used the opportunity to shove against the door and destabilize his sister. Jazz flailed for balance and dropped the foundation in her haste. It smudged against Danny's left red Converse and clattered across the tile.

Jazz gasped loudly. "Danny, you little brat!"

Danny took in an identical gasp. He turned his head and yelled at the kitchen, "MOM! Jazz got her makeup all over my shoes!"

"It wasn't my fault; Danny shoved me!" Jazz yelled after him.

" _Kids!"_ Maddie snapped and came to the kitchen threshold. Her hair was pulled back into a tidy bun, and she sported an uncharacteristic pantsuit in preparation for her appointment at Stark Tower. She appraised the situation and chided, "What has gotten into you two?"

Jazz frowned while Danny positively glowered.

"It'll take us a while to find our new routine in the mornings. Your father and I actually have to commute now, so we don't have time to solve your squabbles. Danny, do you have any other shoes? Didn't you pack that pair of Vans?"

"I can't wear those to school! They're the only spotless things I own!" Danny complained. " _And_ they're pure white!"

"Well, good thing Labor Day was only yesterday," Maddie quipped and went back to the kitchen.

"I meant they'll get messed up instan-"

Maddie, however, had already disappeared.

Danny released a loud groan. Jazz shoved his phone against his chest and slammed the bathroom door once more.

* * *

The door to apartment 7B opened just as Danny pressed the call button for the elevator. Another teen boy emerged wearing a preppy sweater over a collared shirt and carrying a backpack which had seen better days. Danny was barely able to notice the boy's wavy brown hair and fair skin from behind his own squinted eyelids.

The other boy strode over and stood abreast of Danny in wait of the elevator. He bounced on the balls of his feet before looking sideways and saying, "Sup?"

"Bite me," Danny mumbled.

The other boy's bouncing stopped. "…What?"

Danny seemed to suddenly realize where he was. "Oh…sorry, was that out loud?"

"Uh, _yeah?"_

"Sorry. Sirens kept me up, plus I haven't had enough coffee yet. I'm dead this morning, and you're way too hyper. Maybe you should drink *less* coffee."

"Oh, I don't drink coffee!" the other guy replied.

Danny's face fell into a deadpan as the elevator doors slid open. Both boys got inside, and Danny pressed the button for the ground floor. He yelped and braced himself against the walls when the elevator dropped about a foot before its mechanism caught itself and lowered it at a normal pace.

"What the hell was that?!" Danny asked.

"Oh, it does that a couple times a month," the other boy replied. "Don't worry about it."

"It's a metal cage that's like a hundred feet off the ground; why the hell wouldn't I worry?!"

"You're the new kid, aren't you?" the brunet guessed. He extended his hand. "The name's Parker. _Peter_ Parker."

"Cool it, double-O _seventh_ ; it's too early for that crap," Danny drawled but returned the handshake. "Danny Fenton."

"Nice to meet you."

The elevator opened onto the ground floor, and Danny followed Peter to the street. "Well, see ya later," Danny said.

"See ya."

Both boys turned the same way, and Peter faltered while Danny trudged ahead. Danny turned around to see Peter obviously pretending to check his phone.

"You're going this way, too, aren't you," Danny stated.

"Uuuuhhhhh, yeah, yes I am," Peter said and nodded.

"This is going to be really awkward now."

Peter continues incessantly bobbing his head. "Yes, yes it is."

"I'm taking the 7 subway towards 40th Street."

"As am…I," Peter affirmed.

"Cool."

"Cool."

They stood in a silent, purposeless standoff.

"I'll…show you a good cafe for emergency coffee and donuts on the way?" Peter suggested.

"I thought you don't drink coffee?"

"How do you think I realized I don't need to drink it?"

"…Fair enough."

* * *

The subway carriage lurched, sending Danny scrambling for a grip. A single drop of coffee splashed out of the spout of Danny's to-go cup and plummeted towards Danny's left shoe. Danny noticed in time, though, and hurriedly shifted his foot out of the way. A second lurch, however, made a stranger next to him lose their footing and accidentally scuff their dirty boot across the white patch where the coffee would have landed. Danny sighed and nodded in defeated acceptance.

"Yeah, I know, it's pretty slow," Peter commented, misreading Danny's frustration. "But, it's still a heck of a lot faster than walking to school."

"And you ride this every day?" Danny asked.

"Yep, to and from school. Oh, and also into midtown in the afternoons."

"What's in midtown?"

"Oh, May didn't tell you guys?" When Danny shook his head, Peter explained, "I have an internship at Stark Industries."

"You what?!" Danny exclaimed. "Wow, that's awesome."

"Yeah, it's pretty cool, but I try not to make a big deal about it," Peter bragged with a half-smile and shrug of his shoulders.

' _The lie detector determined that was a lie,'_ Maury Povich's voice echoed in Danny's mind.

"I'll have to see how it balances with my extracurriculars. I might have to drop a couple."

"Why? What do you do?" Danny asked.

"Oh, you know, just the usual stuff. Academic decathlon, band, volunteering at the veterans center with May, volunteering at the animal shelter, volunteering-"

"-At the same time?!" Danny interrupted.

"Well, at least I don't do any sports too," Peter defended. "My teachers were pushing for that, but it's-" Peter faltered. "It's not a great idea for me."

"Crap. What kind of school did Tony Stark sign me up for?"

"You know Tony Stark too?"

"Well, he made a contract with my parents."

"Ah, right; May mentioned something about that," Peter mused. "Hey, isn't it slightly weird that Tony moved his new employees right next door to a preexisting one?"

"You're right; that *is* weird," Danny agreed. "Well it's better than if we were roommates."

" 'Oh my god, they were roommates,' " Peter commented automatically.

The teens, realizing what had just happened, simultaneously gasped and lit with glee.

* * *

 _Astoria —_ _07:58_

"Is this a school or a museum?" Danny exclaimed.

Peter chuckled. "Welcome to Midtown School of Science and Technology."

The boys passed under the front gate and began crossing the yard.

"This place is ridiculous," Danny said. "It's like three times as big as Casper High back home. Is this one of those schools where everyone's related to someone famous or something?"

"Well, John Gotti did go here a bazillion years ago…"

Danny and Peter approached the front steps where a preppy-looking blonde wearing all white and navy stood waiting.

"Hey, Betty," Peter greeted.

"Oh, you must be the new kid!" Betty greeted Danny, completely failing to acknowledge Peter's existence. "I'm Betty, chair of the new student welcoming committee. I'm here to show you around, get you set up with your locker and schedule and help you settle in to life here at Midtown. Danny, right?"

"Uh, yeah. Hi," Danny said.

"Cool. Just follow me." Betty briefly made eye contact with Peter. "Hey, Parker."

"H-" Peter's greeting died on his lips when she was already gone, a hapless Danny offering Peter a wordless apology as he disappeared with her.

Throngs of students milled around Peter as if he were a mere obstacle in the flow. He sighed. "Okay, then…"

"Peter!"

Peter brightened when he saw portly Ned Leeds barreling at him through the crowds. He braced for impact, but Ned's tackle sent him crashing into the railing behind him.

"Hey, Ned!" Peter greeted. "Welcome back to prison."

"Dude dude dude dude," Ned began, "did you see Liz's Instagram story last night?"

"No, why?" Peter asked as he opened the app on his phone.

"She saw a dementor too!"

"No way!"

* * *

Danny finally found his way to his locker, only to find it was a bottom locker. He rolled his eyes and said, " _Son_ of a _bi-_ "

"Check out the new kid!"

Danny spun around and found a boy with a dark complexion and wavy black hair. "Can I help you?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, I'm part of the welcoming committee. Flash Thompson," he said and raised a fist to bump.

"Oh, *you're* Flash," Danny said, ignoring Flash's raised fist. "I'm Danny."

"Oh, are you part of the Flash Mob?"

"…No?"

"But you just said my name."

"Peter Parker told me all about you on the way here."

"You know Penis Parker?"

Danny narrowed his eyes and carefully replied, "He's my neighbor."

"Aw, sucks to be you. He's a total weirdo."

"He led me to good coffee, so he can't be _all_ bad."

"Hey, new kid's got a mouth," Flash commented. "See you around, David."

"Danny," he corrected

"Later, _Davey_ ," Flash called as he walked away.

* * *

"Good morning," a woman greeted as she strode into the room. "I am your teacher, Mrs. Warren. This is sophomore physics, but it will also serve as your homeroom." She slapped a folder down onto her desk and looked over the students at their lab tables. "I know most of you from last year-"

' _Oh, no.'_

"-but I see we do have a new face!"

Danny sank further into his seat. ' _Oh, God.'_

"Mister, uh—?"

Danny groaned and sat up. "Fenton."

"Mr. Fenton, welcome! Would you like to come to the front and-?"

"No."

Mrs. Warren faltered. "It is not optional, Fenton."

Danny rolled his eyes and stood, but he remained at his desk. "Hi, my name's Danny; not Daniel or Dan, just Danny. I'm from Amity Park, Ohio, and I moved here because my parents got a contract with Stark Industries. I would like to say I'm excited to move to New York, but let's be honest: This is Queens, not Manhattan." He sat back down, leaving the room in stunned silence.

"Nice."

Danny's whole body flinched. A girl with barely-tamed, wavy hair had seemingly materialized out of nowhere in the seat next to him. Danny almost wondered if she had spoken at all given the way she unflinchingly read her book.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say I hope our borough grows on you," Mrs. Warren encouraged.

Danny sighed. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Warren. I didn't sleep well, my sister spilled makeup on my shoes this morning, and I'm just not much of a morning person."

"…Sounds like you're not much of an 'anything' person," the girl next to him muttered just loud enough for Danny to hear.

* * *

"Stick close, and I'll show you what to avoid," Peter advised as the lunch line advanced.

"Hey, if it's not grass on bread or *sentient*, I'll be happy," Danny drawled.

" 'Sentient?' " Peter repeated.

With a sigh, Danny explained, "There's a gh- a, uh…a villain back home that haunts the cafeteria."

"That's sick, man," Peter said and took an apple for himself.

"That's life in Amity Park."

"Oh my god!" a new voice exclaimed. A heavyset Polynesian boy physically shoved his way into their conversation. With eyes on Danny, he asked, "Is this the guy?"

"This is the guy," Peter affirmed. "Ned, meet Danny."

"Hey," Danny greeted.

With a quick glance down, Ned's face lit up with excitement. "Daaaaaamn!"

Danny felt shell-shocked and self-conscious. "…What?"

"Daaaaaamn, Daniel!" Ned exclaimed. "Back at it again with the white Vans!"

Danny glanced down at his choice of footwear and groaned. "Oh, no." He looked up pleadingly. "Please, you guys, it's my first day. I don't-"

"Daaaaaamn, Daniel!" Ned and Peter chorused with equal expressions of unbridled glee.

"Oh, great." Danny rolled his eyes and maneuvered around Peter in line. "My sister dumped her makeup on my normal shoes, okay? I didn't have a choice. And _don't_ call me Daniel."

* * *

 _Sunnyside_ _— 15:35_

After school, Danny found himself walking up Queens Beaulevard through the heart of Sunnyside. People were out walking their dogs or running errands. Teens traveled around in groups, enjoying their novelty free time after the first day back at school. The neighborhood was extremely diverse, a refreshing change from the Fentons' predominantly cookie-cutter suburb back home. It wasn't long, however, until Danny had been cornered into his first mugging.

"Cough up the wallet, kid!" his masked aggressor ordered with a jab of his brandished knife.

Danny frowned. "I've been in New York for three days, and this is the welcome I get?" he commented to himself and quickly began deciding what ghost powers he could subtly call upon in the ensuing struggle.

"How's THIS for a welcome!" a gravelly voice shouted from above.

A white string attached itself to the knife and yanked it away. Both Danny and his mugger looked up just in time to see a figure drop down from an overlooking fire escape. Danny squatted out of the way of the mugger's swinging fist, while the shadowed figure shot more of the white rope-like substance at the mugger and pinned his arms to his sides.

As the restrained mugger lost his balance and toppled over, the newcomer straightened and faced Danny, silhouetted by the afternoon sun behind him.

"Welcome to Queens," Danny's savior grunted.

Danny frowned. The full cowl, the disorienting silhouette of the sun behind him, the apparent combat tech, the voice… Danny quirked an eyebrow and asked, "Batman? You're real?"

"Dude, no way! You thought I was Batman?!" the figure asked excitedly, his suddenly normal voice now resembling that of a boy Danny's age. "Oh, crap—I mean-"

Danny immediately ID'd the local hero from his previous in-costume interaction and rolled his eyes. "You killed the moment, man," he said. He took the hero's offered hand and stood. "Thanks for saving me, I guess. Hey...you're Spider-Man, right?" Danny asked, playing dumb.

" _FINALLY_ someone gets the name right!" Spider-Man cheered.

"Are muggings frequent around here?"

"Eh, not so much. Usually it's just drugs and murders in New York."

"That's a nice change," Danny muttered to himself.

"What's that?"

"Oh. Nothing. My hometown's just weird."

"O-okay. Well, welcome to the neighborhood!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry; Danny and Jazz are NOT going to murder each other. They're just having trouble adjusting to their new life because neither of them particularly wanted this move haha.
> 
> This chapter's references and Easter Eggs:
> 
> \- Magnolia Bakery: a real bakery which I follow on Instagram. Oh my god everything they make looks incredible.
> 
> \- Kid Cuisine: David Kaufman, the voice actor for Danny on the show, also voiced the K.C. Penguin mascot for the old Kid Cuisine commercials.
> 
> \- Daybreak with Mike Pomeroy and Colleen Peck: the fictional morning program from Morning Glory, one of my favorite lighthearted movies ever because it stars Indiana Jones and Regina George IN THE SAME MOVIE.
> 
> \- The Godfather (1972) really did film at Calvary Cemetery which is only a few blocks from the apartment building used for exteriors of the Parkers' residence in Homecoming.
> 
> \- "Oh, I don't drink coffee!": one of the best lines ever muttered by an animated character: Twitchy in Hoodwinked
> 
> \- Double-O seventh: When I was like 10, I used to read the My Life As… series, a Christian youth novel series about Wally McDoogle, one of the most hapless kids ever. One of the books involved him becoming a secret agent, and his call sign was 00-1/7th as a parody of 007 (James Bond).
> 
> \- "Oh my god, they were roommates.": I am heartbroken if you don't get this Vine reference.
> 
> \- John Gotti: infamous real-life mafia boss who went to Franklin K. Lane Educational Campus, the school used as an exterior for Midtown Science and Tech
> 
> \- "Son of a bi-" "Check out the new kid!": Do you see what I did there? :D
> 
> \- "Daaaaaamn, Daniel! Back at it again with the White Vans!": Did I write the entire bathroom scene to justify this pop culture reference? Yes. Yes I did. (This story takes place in 2016 in accordance with the MCU timeline, right after the Damn Daniel videos went viral.)
> 
> \- "…Batman?": because of that golden interview with Tom Holland for MTV After Hours (["Tom Holland's Secret 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' Audition Tape | After Hours | MTV" on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXYlM5kus0I)).
> 
> Stay tuned for more fun next month when the Fentons go to the Parkers' for dinner! As always, I love your feedback and reactions and am always open to suggestions or constructive criticism. :)


	4. Dinner at the Parkers'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the end of a long first day of school and work for the Fentons, so May and Peter host them for dinner. Meanwhile, Tony takes steps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey peeps! Happy Friday once again. I hope y'all are staying healthy. I know my family back in California is struggling with all the smoke.
> 
> It's dinner party time! Thanks as always to my beta reading team for their help in perfecting the chapter. :)

_Sunnyside, Queens — Tuesday, September 6, 19:54_

"Three days, Mads!" Jack spat as he aggressively knotted his tie in the master bathroom mirror. "We've only been here _three days_ and that putrid _punk_ followed us all the way to New York City. What does he want from us? Wouldn't he be rejoicing that we left his haunt?"

"His apparent fixation upon this family is unprecedented," Maddie agreed from the foot of their bed, though her thoughts drifted to Phantom's reported grocery run earlier that summer. "The fact that he has already located our new lab space is not a pleasant thought."

"Well, just let him wait till we get our hardware configured for Tower security! Then he'll have another thing comin'!" Jack proclaimed and turned away from the mirror. "Ready?"

Maddie nodded, smoothing her blouse as she stood.

* * *

"Jazz, I hate you," Danny deadpanned and adjusted uncomfortably in his sky blue Argyle sweater vest.

"We have a single opportunity to make a normal first impression," Jazz bit back and fixed her special-occasion-only headband in the entryway mirror.

"We already made a first impression."

"A first impression as a whole family in a social setting, then. The aunt already knows Mom and Dad work with ghosts, and Peter already knows you from school. The least we can do is attempt to appear otherwise sane and normal when all together."

"I don't think our clothes will make much of a difference. My t-shirt and jeans aren't exactly weird."

"It is when you practically wear copies of the same ones every day."

"I do not!"

"You do too! Have you seen your wardrobe? It's like a Captain America fanboy's wet dream."

"Excuse _you_ , I happen to like NASA's colors and-"

"Hey! Kids!" Maddie barked as she entered the kitchen with Jack in tow. "I have had just about enough of your bickering!"

"[He/She] started it!" Jazz and Danny chorused then glared at each other.

"We don't care who started it," Maddie said. "You two have been at each other's throats since minute _one_ in this city!"

Jack removed two platters from the refrigerator. "We should scan the apartment to make sure there isn't some malevolent spirit that's influencing our emotions," he mused.

"I'm surprised we haven't already," Danny quipped.

"Dad's right," Jazz agreed and crossed her arms. With a sardonic tone and knowing glare at Danny, she added, "Maybe it's haunted."

Danny mocked her facial expression.

"See? _This_ ," Maddie said with a wide sweep of her hand in her kids' direction, " _THIS_ is what I mean. You two need to grow up and accept the fact that our lives have changed, and overall for the better! Your father and I work for _the_ Tony Stark; Jazz, you go to a fantastically ranked school with better acceptance rates than Casper High; and Danny has a brilliant boy his age living right next door who's sure to have similar interests and be an overall good influence!" Maddie took a calming breath. "So, suck it up, at least when your father and I are in the room. Because I'm not afraid to ground either of you until you get an attitude adjustment," she finished.

Jazz and Danny stood in gaping, shell-shocked silence.

"There, that seemed to get through to you," Maddie added with a smile. She turned to Jack just over her shoulder. "Shall we?"

"Let's wow the Parkers' socks off."

* * *

_Tony,_

_I'm glad you're back at the compound. I don't like the idea of you rattling around a mansion by yourself. We all need family. The Avengers are yours, maybe more so than mine. I've been on my own since I was 18. I never really fit in anywhere, even in the army._

_My faith's in people, I guess. Individuals. And I'm happy to say that, for the most part, they haven't let me down. Which is why I can't let them down either. Locks can be replaced, but maybe they shouldn't._

_I know I hurt you, Tony. I guess I thought by not telling you about your parents I was sparing you, but I can see now that I was really sparing myself, and I'm sorry. Hopefully one day you can understand._

_I wish we agreed on the Accords, I really do. I know you're doing what you believe in, and that's all any of us can do. That's all any of us should. So no matter what, I promise you, if you need us - if you need me - I'll be there._

— _Steve_

* * *

_Midtown Manhattan — 19:57_

"Tony," Happy prodded. When his boss didn't reply, he repeated, "Tony."

Tony removed his gaze from the wrinkled letter and made eye contact with Happy in the rearview mirror. "What?"

"She _wants_ to see you."

Tony looked out the window at the looming condominium tower at 432 Park Avenue.

"Quit being chicken and go up already!" Happy snapped.

"Alright, alright!" Tony acquiesced and opened his door. He got out, straightened the blazer over his t-shirt and strode across the sidewalk to the entry. "Friday? Work your magic."

 _[Oh, no, boss,]_ the AI replied through his glasses. _[You're on your own.]_

"What if she doesn't let me in?" Tony muttered.

_[Then you find out she doesn't want to see you.]_

Tony paused. "Maybe we should come back tomorrow…"

_[Too late.]_

The intercom lit up and began ringing Pepper's apartment.

"Oh, *now* you work your magic," Tony quipped.

_[You built me to aid in and improve your life. This is me aiding and improving your life.]_

The intercom crackled. _"…Tony?"_ Pepper's voice rang out.

"Hey, uh…can I come up?"

There was a pregnant pause. The never-sleeping life of midtown hummed around Tony.

Finally, Pepper sighed. _"Fine,"_ she conceded.

Tony went inside and rode to the 91st floor. He exited the elevator to find Pepper with her arms crossed while leaning against the door frame. Tony paused just outside the elevators.

Neither spoke.

Pepper's schooled visage gave away nothing.

"Hey, Pep," Tony tried.

"Mr. Stark."

Tony winced.

"I see you're still alive," the stoic Pepper began.

"Still kickin'."

"Thanks for the update after Berlin, by the way. Really helped me rest easy."

Tony's brow furrowed. "But I didn't update you-"

"Bingo."

"Ah." Tony nodded in understanding. "Well, would you have taken my call if I had?"

"Would you have taken mine?" Pepper asked. "Trick question," she added before he could reply. "You _didn't_."

Tony took a couple of very slow, very deliberate steps forward as he spoke. "Considering your last words were something along the lines of 'fuck off,' I kinda figured you were just making sure I'd listened."

"If that's what you think, then why are you here?"

"It's what I _thought._ "

"Well, then-"

" _Thought_ ," Tony emphasized, "as in _past_ …tense."

He stopped, and the two were within arm's reach of each other. With squinted eyes and crossed arms, both challenged the other to speak first.

"Thirsty?" Pepper finally asked.

" 'Kill for a whiskey."

* * *

_Sunnyside — 20:05_

May opened the oven and checked the roast chicken within. "Right on schedule," she commented to herself and shut the oven. "Almost ready, Peter?"

"Almost," he replied, running a comb through his hair in the bathroom mirror. He set the comb aside and, with a quick teeth check, went to inspect the table.

There was a buzz at the door, and May went to answer. When she opened it, the four Fentons stood smiling with outstretched armfuls of food. "Hey, guys!" May greeted and stood aside so they could enter. "Welcome to Casa de Parker."

"Thanks, May!" Jack said and held up his tray. "We brought fudge!"

"Oh…uh…great!"

"And stuff for fresh bruschetta," Maddie muttered conspiratorially to the hostess.

May huffed a laugh and directed them to a free spot on the kitchen counter.

"Hey, guys!" Peter said to Danny and Jazz with a broad smile. "Long time, no see."

"Yeah, a whole five hours," Danny drawled.

"Wanna check out my room?"

"Sure."

The three teens went into the bedroom just off the kitchen and took in the plethora of Star Wars memorabilia.

"Are you one with the force?" Danny asked.

"The force is with me," Peter replied and aimed his desk lamp at one of the shelves of figurines. "And so are these first editions," he added with a cocky smile.

"No way! These must have cost a fortune!" Danny exclaimed and leaned in for a closer look.

"Not really. Uncle Ben got them new when he was a kid and passed 'em on to me."

"If you two are going to nerd out on these, I'll join the other adults in the kitchen," Jazz huffed and left the room.

"You can be such a stuck-up nerf herder sometimes!" Danny called after her.

Jazz peeked her head back in the room with an intense glare. "How many times have I told you I hate being insulted with movie references I don't understand?"

Peter's jaw dropped. He looked over his shoulder at the plethora of Star Wars memorabilia and then back at the girl.

"Just keep smiling, Jazz," Danny reminded her with an unsettlingly loving smile. "Neither of us want to be grounded."

A sardonic grin stretched across her face before she schooled the rest of her face into something more earnest. "Truce resumed," she said and vacated the door.

"Truce?" Peter asked.

"We're working on it. Mom and Dad think there's been too much salt in apartment 7A. I guess they're right."

"Well until then you guys don't even have to worry about air conditioning with all the shade being cast between you."

"Ha! Nice."

They fist-bumped.

"Peter! Danny! Hors d'oeuvres are up!" May called from the kitchen.

"Coming, May!" Peter answered.

Maddie was already sitting in the dining nook when Danny and Peter emerged, choosing to be at the head of the table furthest from the kitchen in the dining nook. Jack sat adjacent to her inside the booth with Jazz to his left, the other head of the table sitting vacant for May when she would finally sit. Danny took the chair to May's left, leaving Peter the seat between him and Maddie at the other end of the table. When everyone else was seated, May retrieved a chilled bottle of Chardonnay from the fridge and served some for the adults.

"This is a beautiful little home you have here," Maddie complimented.

"Oh, thank you!" May answered. "Ben's parents bought it for us when we got married, and we've been here ever since."

"You said you're a nurse?"

"Yeah, over at Mount Sinai. I used to do a lot of volunteer work, but our expenses took a sudden jump after we took in this guy," May said with a chin tilt at Peter who replied with an awkward blush.

"What did your husband do?" Jack asked.

"Military police, I think?" May replied and passed the bread basket. "He never really talked about his work. He wasn't really allowed to."

Danny and Jazz shared a look which was not lost on the other teenager at the table.

"Military police, huh?" Jack commented. "Was he already retired when he-?"

"Jack," Maddie hissed in annoyance while the Fenton teens immediately cringed.

May raised her wine glass to her lips, her free hand absently fidgeting with the wedding ring on a chain around her neck. "No, he was on duty when- when it happened."

A painfully awkward silence plummeted over the table. Everybody became fascinated with their own empty plates and condensation-kissed beverages.

Danny looked around. When no one would meet his eyes, he made a decision:

"Heh. Duty."

"Oh, grow up, Danny," Jazz mumbled with an appreciative warmth in her expression.

Danny finally caught their hostess' eye and offered her a half-smile.

After a beat, May returned the smile and gave his nearest wrist an affectionate squeeze. Tension diffused, she asked, "So, kids, how was your first day back at school?"

"Fine," Peter said.

"Uneventful," Danny added.

Peter couldn't help a brief look of disbelief. "Really? Nothing happened?"

Danny scoffed. "Dude, you were there."

"Well, yeah, but—after? On the- on the walk? Home? Nothing?"

Danny glanced at his parents before staring at the boy next to him as if he were crazy. "Why? Should something have happened?"

Peter went slack-jawed for a moment. "Uh—uh, no, it's just…it's a nice neighborhood, so I didn't know if you might've…met someone or…something."

"No one important," he said with a nonchalant shrug.

Peter glared at his water glass.

"Oh, Pete, would you grab the tomatoes for the bruschetta?" May said. "I forgot it on the counter."

"Sure." Peter laboriously got up from the table and walked over to the counter under the window. Anxiety suddenly crawled along his nerves, and he looked across the gap outside into the neighboring apartment. He gasped when he saw one of the elderly occupants grasping their throat and leaning on the dining table.

"Everything okay over there?" May asked.

Peter, shocked, whipped to look at everyone staring at him. "I—uh—I—" He fumbled around with the open Tupperware of basil and chopped tomatoes on the counter and the uncapped olive oil next to it. As subtly as possible, he briefly turned his back on the others and smeared a small handful of tomato on his button-up shirt. "Yeah, I just spilled some on me."

"Oh no!" his aunt groaned.

"No big deal! I'll just go change shirts real quick." Peter dropped the Tupperware onto the table, ran to his room and slammed the door.

May quirked an eyebrow at her nephew's antics before attempting to restart the conversation and serve the appetizers.

"I swear, that boy could not be more clumsy," May said with a laugh. "Last fall? He hit a bad streak. His room was almost completely trashed, and one time he hurt his leg really bad. Tore his ACL clean through! Pete said he fell down the stairs, and boy didn't he look like it. Didn't you, Pete?" she called out.

Everyone contorted to look towards the silent bedroom but lost interest when there was no response.

"I guess he's still embarrassed about it," May added. "The worst of it, though, was when Principal Morita called one day reporting broken lab equipment and failed chemistry experiments left and right."

"Sounds familiar, doesn't it, Danny?" Maddie prodded sarcastically.

"Mo~om," Danny whined and bit into his bruschetta with a vengeance.

Had anyone been at the kitchen sink under the window, they would have seen Spider-Man giving the Heimlich maneuver to the neighbor.

"He got better, though," Maddie added. "I think it was just nerves from starting high school."

"Yeah. Nerves," the boy muttered.

"What was it? Thirty beakers broken?" Jazz teased.

Danny glowered at his plate. "Thirty-four."

A slam was heard in Peter's bedroom, and the boy tumbled out looking thoroughly disheveled. "Sorry about that," he said. "I'm starving!"

"Hey, you alright, man?" Danny asked, leaning in as the other boy scooted in his chair.

"Yeah, why?" Peter answered as he reached for his water glass.

"You forgot to change your shirt."

Mortified, Peter looked down at the red stain on his shirt. With a nervous laugh, he said, "I knew I forgot something," and dashed back into his room to change.

* * *

_Midtown — 20:20_

"And the buyer offered _above_ list price?" Pepper clarified.

"A modern, iconic, high-tech tower a block from Times Square with a big-ass A on it. Go figure," Tony drawled and listened to the ice cubes clink against the single rocks glass in his hand. He took a sip of the whiskey and continued, "But it'll be nice to move all primary operations upstate. Rhodey'll feel less out of the loop."

"How's he doing?"

"He's fine. We got him set up with some cybernetics last week after they let him out of Columbia Medical."

"I'm glad you all got out of that whole business minimally scathed," Pepper said, raising her Sauvignon Blanc to her lips.

"You kiddin'? We shredded ourselves to pieces," Tony sighed. "The Star-Spangled Man with a Plan's on the lam, Barton and Lang are under house arrest, the rest are war criminals, and now Rhodey's fighting paralysis with the best tech we got. Sounds like we got out majorly scathed, if you ask me."

Pepper shook her head. "And now ghosts breaking into the compound?"

"An operative named Ghost. We still don't fully understand how her abilities work beyond having something to do with quantum mechanics. However, it did reveal a massive security hole, so we brought in a few experts to fill it. They're—they're an interesting bunch. But, no one knows phase shifting and alternative energies and dimensions like they do."

"And how's the kid?"

"Pete's antsy. The new guys have a teenage son, Danny, so I moved them in next door to the Parkers. Hopefully they'll get on like wildfire and give Web Head an outlet for his manic energy and the new kid a better influence."

"Something wrong with him?"

"Danny's…suspicious. Crappy track record and abnormal proximity to his parents' ghost tech. I wanna make sure he's not a growing threat."

"Mm."

A brief silence fell over the pair. Both Tony and Pepper knew there was an unanswered question looming over their reunion.

"So…I got a letter from Rogers today."

"Oh, really?"

"He was pretty direct, talked a lot about family, and being there for people you care about."

Pepper huffed a humorless laugh. "We've both been failing in that regard," she drawled.

"No, Pep-"

"I could've tried harder. When all that Sokovia stuff happened and Steve went nuts and you had no one to lean on-"

"Well I was too focused on big-picture stuff before it, and my small picture stuff got neglected."

They shared a small, apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, Tony."

"I'm sorry, Pepper. I've seen what life is like without you in it, and I don't think I can handle it. We have more baggage than anyone could ever hope for, and we have a lot to work out. But I _want_ to work it out. _With_ you."

Pepper set down her wine glass and pulled Tony into a hug. "Me too."

* * *

_Sunnyside — 21:30_

The oddness with Peter had almost been forgotten by the time dessert came around. Danny and Peter were clearing the table while the adults and Jazz socialized.

"Oh, can one of you take a clipping from the mint plant over in the window?" May asked. "I need it for the digestifs."

"I got it, Mrs. Parker," Danny offered. He grabbed the kitchen shears and went to the living room windows overlooking the street. Just as he took a clipping, a chill chased up the boy's spine. Danny's aura froze, and his breath misted in front of him.

' _A ghost? Here? In New York? NOW?!'_

Danny gasped and checked behind him to see if anyone was watching. With a quick appraisal of their apartment and the neighborhood just beyond the window, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. However, Danny knew from experience never to let his ghost sense wait. He took a couple of quick clippings and raced back to the kitchen.

"Here!" Danny said and tossed the cut mint onto the counter in front of May. "I gotta go to the bathroom! Excuse me for a minute!" He ran into the Parkers' bathroom and locked the door.

After a quick moment of self-assurance, Danny made eye contact with his reflection in the mirror. "Wow, three days before a ghost shows up. That's gotta be a new record," he quipped to himself. Danny slapped his phone onto the counter and summoned his transformation. Ectoplasm pulsed from his ghost core and manifested his Phantom half. The surge of his aura gently ruffled his loose hair and disappeared in a white-hot aquamarine blip. Danny Phantom re-pocketed his phone and then phased through the ceiling and out into the night sky.

All was calm and quiet in Sunnyside. The last hint of daylight was a mere teal sliver along the western horizon. The heat of a late-summer New York day was beginning to subside, letting the warm evening take over.

Phantom felt another surge of cold within him and shivered. It felt as if the heat had completely gone. The hero wasn't sure what to make of it, as it didn't have the same ethereal tickle of his ghost sense. He shrugged to himself and glanced around. Seeing nothing, Phantom decided to do a quick lap of the neighborhood.

As he flew at tree-canopy level above the street, Phantom saw multiple windows alit with family mealtimes. The entire neighborhood was quintessentially welcoming in feel. The hero grew more and more confused.

Vacuum.

The world was suddenly devoid of noise. Danny felt a subconscious feeling of dread overtake him. At first, there was merely a whisper, a tickle of a warning curling around the hairs on the back of Danny's neck which sent him shivering into a cold sweat.

Tunnel vision overpowered the boy. He found himself taken back to that traumatizing moment months ago, something he tried to forget every day. It was fruitless to struggle against the single-minded focus making him relive it over and over and over again. Danny's heart rate began to spike, and his anxiety was the highest it had been since the day—the day he went in—

Portal.

The whisper of a warning changed, almost as an echo in reverse in the way it compounded in intensity. All at once, Danny whipped out of the memory and back to the moment at hand, discovering he had sunk to ground level and stood in the middle of 49th street facing the entrance to Sunnyside Gardens Park.

Phantom spasmed when a mournful shriek assaulted his ears. He looked up and saw a terrifying cloaked figure hovering just above him and descending at an unsettlingly slow pace. The spirit's cloak disappeared into a thick black smoke trail.

It took a lot for a ghost to scare the great Danny Phantom. This succeeded.

Danny screamed and darted into the air, nothing but the whoosh of air meeting his ears. He could not have been more grateful to have kept his cell phone when he transformed. He withdrew it and called the only person he knew with encyclopedic knowledge of all things spooky and gothic.

" _Danny? What's-?"_

"Scary dementor thing!" he interrupted. "Azkaban! Chasing me! No thermos!"

" _Dementor? Like in Harry Potter?"_

The creature shadowed Danny from the ambient light of oncoming twilight.

" _Shit!_ " Danny hissed to himself and tried to gain some distance. He went intangible and phased through the trees. Only the sounds of rustling leaves and sporadic birds' startled tweets broke the dead silence of the thing's aura. "Yeah! Black cloak, no real face, smokey trail."

There was a pause. _"How does it feel?"_

"What?"

" _The feeling? Do you feel anything *weird* around it?"_

"It's like all light, and joy, and sound in the world disappear…"

" _Sounds like it could be a wraith-"_

"WRAITH!" Danny shouted in victory. "ThanksSamgottago!"

Phantom pulled up to a stop above the trees and turned to face the soulless, Ghost Zone-haunting beast. Its mouth widened as its screech crescendoed.

"Sorry, dude, I'm no member of PETA," Phantom proclaimed with a charging ectoblast. Once it reached full power, he released it into the wraith's chest. The banshee-like scream disappeared nearly as quickly as the last wisps of the figure's existence. "Well…actually maybe killing you means I am."

A crunch of metal and a scream of pain brought Danny's attention to street level. He whipped around and saw he had backtracked back to 43rd street right in front of his apartment block.

A large SUV had veered out of control and summited a parked compact sedan. It now leaned heavily on its right wheels, one pressed into the asphalt and the other on the sidewalk, while the left half of the chassis was hooked on top of the sedan's crushed trunk. The front right bumper had trapped the shin of a pedestrian walking his dog under the vehicle's weight.

The driver of the SUV clambered out of his cabin and rushed to the pedestrian's side. "Bro, I'm so sorry!"

"Son of a _bitch!_ Who the hell taught you to park?!"

"Hey, shorty, I park just fine!" the driver defended. "But then I saw those floating things up in the sky and got distracted!"

A small crowd grew as concerned citizens came pouring out of the apartment building.

"It was a wraith," Danny Phantom said and kneeled next to them. "No soul but a freaky, feral pain in the ass to fight."

"And what about you?!" the driver demanded.

"Danny Phantom, though most people just call me Phantom. I fight ghosts."

"Ghosts aren't real!" the trapped pedestrian argued.

With a raised eyebrow, Phantom robotically gestured to where the wraith had just been and then to himself.

"...Fair point," the man conceded with a nod.

"I know what it's like to be trapped under a car. Although usually it's, like, twenty of them. Or a building. Anyway, this is gonna feel a little weird, but I can get you out from under there. Before I do, did anybody get photos for the inevitable insurance claim? Feel free to include me for evidence; Lord knows I'm used to it." When someone nodded, Phantom said, "Alright, brace yourself."

Danny rested a glowing, gloved hand on his shoulder and let his intangibility wash over the man. The pedestrian and the gathered onlookers jumped when the car suddenly shifted so the car was then resting _in_ the man's leg rather than on it. Phantom gently maneuvered him out of the way of the SUV and settled him against a tree trunk.

"Holy crap! Ghosts _are_ real!" someone nearby exclaimed.

Phantom's face deadpanned.

* * *

"Yep, it's him," Maddie confirmed from her vantage point next to Peter and May on the Parkers' living room fire escape.

"He's outside our home, Mads," Jack growled as he tried not to wedge himself in the window. He fought against the wooden frame and tumbled onto the fire escape.

"Phantom probably followed us home from the Tower," Maddie spat in reply.

"Who is he?" May asked.

"A ghost vigilante from their hometown," Peter answered.

"How do you know that?" Maddie asked.

Deer in headlights. "I- uh- well I *am* an intern," he suggested. "I heard someone talking about it when Mr. Stark decided to bring you guys out here?"

"I'm surprised we didn't see you there today, kiddo," Jack said. "You gotta come drop in and say 'hi' sometime!"

"I'm...hard to pin down," Peter replied with a chuckle. "But I'll try?"

"Is Danny _still_ in the bathroom?!" Maddie interrupted. "He'll want to see this!"

Jazz's eyes widened. She turned to face the street and announced as loudly as possible without outright shouting, "I don't know, but I think Danny WILL want to see this!"

Phantom looked up at the Fentons and Parkers and visibly panicked as Maddie stepped through the window back into the apartment.

* * *

" _Crap!_ " Phantom hissed. To the crowds, he announced, "I'll be right back to get the SUV off the car! I gotta go do something first! Take pictures for evidence!" He blipped from visibility and thought to himself, _'If only I could freaking duplicate successfully!'_

Danny Phantom phased into the Parker bathroom just as someone knocked on the door.

" _Danny, you doing alright in there?"_ his mom asked from the hall.

"Just going to the bathroom!?" he called back to her.

" _You'll never guess what: that Phantom ghost just showed up and caused a car crash!"_

Transforming back, Danny flushed the toilet and hurriedly washed his hands. He looked down at his spotless sweater and got an idea. With a quick splash of water across his midsection, he dried his hands and raced to open the door.

"You'll never believe it!" Danny said. "When I washed my hands, I got water all over my sweater and it soaked through to my shirt." He looked down. "An-and chinos. I'll go change. Be right back!"

Before Maddie could protest, he was running down the Parkers' hall and slamming the door to apartment 7B behind him. Maddie rejoined the others in the window to watch the events unfold.

"Phantom left. Is Danny okay?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, he just got some water on his shirt and went to go change," Maddie replied and wrapped an arm around her husband as they watched.

"We'd better finish this dinner before we all run out of shirts," May quipped with a teasing punch to her nephew's shoulder.

* * *

"Okay, let's make this quick!" Phantom barked. He hovered over the crash scene and decided on a plan of attack. "Everyone stand back from the car."

After the hesitant citizens had distanced themselves, Phantom phased through and under the perched SUV. He pushed upwards using his strength and flight until the trapped car's rear suspension no longer groaned from the added weight. The SUV precariously teetered at a dramatic angle, its front bumper cracking the sidewalk while the rear towering over the ground.

Phantom pressed his boot against the side of the sedan's bumper and kicked out. The rubber of the tires squealed in protest, but the car swung out until it was no longer underneath the SUV, wiggling in place as it settled.

"Whoa!" a voice exclaimed.

* * *

A warning crawled up Peter's nervous system. Instinctively, he extended the trigger from the web shooter hidden under the cuff on his left wrist. He looked for a distraction and spotted the mint plant in the windowsill. Peter bumped it with his hip, and the terra cotta pot shattered on the living room hardwood.

"What-?!" May exclaimed, and everyone else on the windowsill looked at the mess inside.

Taking his fleeting window of opportunity, Peter fired.

* * *

What-?" Phantom began and contorted his head around to look behind him.

A cyclist had locked her brakes when the sedan skidded out into the roadway, her path suddenly blocked. Danny instinctively released the SUV and leaped, bear-hugging the cyclist and pulling her off the out-of-control bike.

The crowd screamed as the back of the SUV swung down towards Phantom and the cyclist before Phantom could react. However, a soft thwip sound was heard, and the SUV jerked out of the way and instead rolled towards the apartment block and onto its side. Glass shattered and tinkled against the asphalt and concrete, and the massive vehicle groaned as it settled in place.

Gaping, Phantom only released the cyclist after she began to struggle against his embrace. He immediately let her go and stepped back. The poor woman frantically patted herself down and glanced back at Phantom in fear.

"Why—why are you so cold?" she whispered.

Danny looked around and saw that the murmuring New Yorkers shared her unease in his presence. "Well…" he began, looking at the toppled SUV, crushed sedan, shell-shocked cyclist, injured pedestrian and growing crowd, "...I guess I'll leave you guys to it. Have a nice night?"

He disappeared.

* * *

Danny came running back into the Parker residence and found everyone settling back in at the table, the smell of dirt and mint wafting through the apartment. "Aw, shoot, is it over?" he panted.

"Yeah, you missed the ghost punk trying to make yet another city think he's a hero," Jack spat.

"And destroying half of it in the process," Maddie added.

Only Peter caught Danny's eye roll as he sat down, but nobody noticed both boys seeming a little more fatigued than appropriate for a dinner party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> References as usual! :D
> 
> \- Strong "*Play dumb* Who's Morales? *Not that dumb!*" Into the Spider-Verse vibes when Peter leaves the room to change his shirt and returns still wearing the same shirt
> 
> \- Danny's Argyle sweater vest: This was not at all on purpose, but one of my fanfiction friends (whats-up-everybody) told me about the concept art for the original show which had Danny Fenton in an Argyle sweater vest? Like? He would've been way more preppy than the Danny we know and love? So obviously he'd be uncomfortable wearing it. Collective consciousness moment, I guess. Like when I wrote that Young Justice fic about Superboy's first night out of Cadmus and had him stay with Wally, and then I discovered the whole canon comic series which paralleled that hosting choice exactly.
> 
> \- Cartoon trope meta-joke when Jazz teases Danny about practically wearing the same outfit every day
> 
> \- Steve's letter to Tony: It's a transcription of the voiceover from the ending montage in Captain America: Civil War.
> 
> \- 432 Park Avenue: a real condo tower which really sticks out on the skyline because of how rigorously rectangular, white and skinny it is
> 
> \- Mount Sinai Hospital: a real hospital in Astoria, not that far from the Parkers' neighborhood of Sunnyside.
> 
> \- Star-Spangled Man with a Plan on the lam: I am…so proud of this line.
> 
> \- Danny's PETA quip: Because of their controversially excessive euthanasia practices in their 'shelters.' (Don't take this as me being anti-animal rights because I am all for ethically treating animals and I instantly tear up whenever I watch one of those Dodo animal rescue/rehab videos. But I am NOT pro-PETA, and sorry but I'm only a vegetarian between meals.)
> 
> Let me know what you think. I love dialoguing with my readers. :)
> 
> Fair warning: there might be a *slight* delay in publishing the next chapter because there's a gap between these early finished chapters and the next action I have fully drafted, and I still have some order-of-events to sort out leading up to then. I'll need a couple of weeks extra at most. In the meantime, I have a host of other oneshots and a multichapter DP/Young Justice crossover to keep you entertained! :)


	5. Ghosts, Amiright?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Homecoming plotline advances, Danny works on figuring out how to explain the wraith appearances, and Midtown Science has a party at the Toomes'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's time for an update! I've found sporadic moments to write this chapter virtually from scratch amongst my hectic search for a job in one of the worst economies in recent history.
> 
> Yay me!
> 
> Anyway, let's kick things up a notch and get back to Phasma and Peterman. (You'll see what I mean.)

" _Get out of there, Danny!"_

Danny pounded the off button with a vengeance, but the system's automated startup had already initiated. He whimpered frantically, wrestling against the cord which had ensnared his ankle and trapped him inside.

" _Come on, dude! This is not how you die!"_

"No! Stay back!" Danny shouted, and Tucker stumbled back out of the mouth of the machine. Danny returned his focus to the cable, even trying to undo his boot, but it was to no avail.

_PMMMMMMMMMB-_

A bass-noted pulse assaulted Danny's gut. He stopped struggling, stopped fighting fate. He could only gape. Danny tried one last time to press the off button.

His muscles froze. He could do nothing when the pain struck a millisecond later. _Millions_ of volts of foreign energy coursed through him as a new electrical ground and _scorched_ the panel under his palm. Danny could barely _scream_ as an outlet for the pain, _building, compounding, intensifying-_

_His scream echoed through the entire house._

" _Danny!" they screamed._

" _DANNY!"_

"DANNY!"

"GAAAHHH!" Danny shot up in bed and scrambled to press himself against the wall. "TURN OFF THE PORTAL!" he shouted. "TURN IT OFF! MAKE IT STOP!"

His hyperventilation gradually diminished into labored breathing. He looked around and saw his Sunnyside room awash in light. His mother kneeled at his bedside, terrified, while his father stood worriedly just behind her.

"Danny?" Maddie gently asked. "Are you back with us?"

Panting, Danny slowly forced his head to nod. He pressed the palms of his hands into his face and rubbed at his eyes, surprised when they came away wet.

"Jack, close the windows. It's _freezing_ in here," Maddie said with a shudder.

"It's warmer outside; I'll leave it open," Jack replied from the window. "Danny-boy…what was that all about?"

"I-" Danny's voice cracked. He coughed, then tried again. "It was just—just a nightmare."

"One hell of a nightmare," the man muttered with a huff. His breath clouded before him.

"I-I'm sorry," Danny whimpered then sniffled. "I didn't mean to…wake you guys."

"Hon, did something happen to you in the portal accident?" Maddie asked.

Danny briefly met her gaze before averting his eyes. He missed the loaded looks his parents shared at his obvious lack of response.

"Something must have triggered this memory," the woman mused. "You haven't woken us with your screaming since just after the accident."

Danny broke into tears rather than answer her question.

"Come on, sweetie," Maddie relented. "I'll make you some hot cocoa before you go back to bed, okay?"

It took a few moments for Danny to hesitantly nod in agreement.

"We can play a round of Uno if you want?"

"H-hardly the best way to get sleepy again," Danny wearily joked with a ghost of a half-smile.

Maddie pulled him into a brief but strong hug before standing back up and letting Danny untangle himself from his bedding.

* * *

_Park Avenue, Manhattan — Wednesday, September 7, 03:15_

Tony woke to a midtone ethereal beeping. He scowled at the far-too-small digits on Pepper's alarm clock face before noticing his illuminated glasses pulsating on the nightstand. With a quiet sigh, he fumbled to put them on.

_[Good morning, boss.]_

"Morning isn't for another four hours."

Pepper moaned beside him.

_[There's an urgent incoming call from Agent Hill.]_

"Put 'er through." Tony sat up and walked out into the hall. "Do all SHIELD agents have no perception of time or privacy?"

 _"Sorry, Tony, it's midday here in Mumbai,"_ Hill replied. _"Something just happened which I thought might interest you."_

"I already know about the Mondrian auction next month."

_"Operative Ghost just made an appearance at a covert SHIELD base."_

"In Mumbai?"

_"Yep."_

"On my way."

* * *

_Astoria, Queens — Wednesday, September 7, 08:04_

"I'll knock out the basic bones of the Death Star at my place and then I'll come by afterward, because for the most part, the difficult thing is the base of it," Ned explained. "The top half we can knock out in two hours, tops."

Peter, however, tuned out the remainder of Ned's ramble. He found himself distracted by Liz Toomes walking across his field of vision. They made fleeting eye contact before she disappeared around the corner. Oh, how he would love an evening hanging out with Liz. "Yeah, that'd be great," Peter mindlessly agreed. He adjusted his focus from the middle ground and noticed Danny fumbling in his locker a few yards ahead of him.

"Heh, looks like the new kid got a bottom locker," Ned commented with a chuckle. "I wonder what he thinks about Danny Phantom showing up last night?"

"How do you know about that?" Peter asked.

"Somebody recorded the car crash and it's been all over the news this morning. Small-Town Troublemaker Causes Big-City Crash or whatever. Hey, isn't it kinda funny that a ghost from Danny's hometown shows up here in the city the same time he does?"

"Well, Danny's parents are kind of Phantom's sworn nemeses," Peter thought out loud. "Maybe he's stalking them and looking for a way to take them down?"

"Wouldn't it be funny if Danny Phantom is just Danny _Fenton's_ secret identity?" Ned joked with a laugh.

"S-secret identity?" Peter asked anxiously. "Ghosts are dead, Ned. And we're just in high school. How could any of us secretly be a hero? We'd fail one test and then have our lives ruined."

"Dude, relax. I'm just kidding! You gotta admit it'd be the perfect cover, though. Everyone thinks you have to be an adult to be a hero and dead to be a ghost. _No_ _one_ would suspect a living high schooler."

"You read too many comic books." Peter glanced down the row of lockers to where Danny was kneeling in front of his own. His new neighbor moved with sloth-like verve as he fumbled for his history textbook. "Huh…"

"You ever wonder who Spider-Man is under the mask?"

Peter's hand twitched and sent his own history textbook arcing above the students milling around him. He leaped across the hallway and grabbed it just before its corner could strike a boy leaning over the drinking fountain.

Unfortunately, that boy was Flash Thompson.

Flash flinched as the book halted millimeters above his head. He straightened and snapped, "What the hell, Parker?! Are you trying to attack me with a book?"

"No!" Peter quickly denied. "It was flying through the air an-and I caught it before it could hit-!"

"Bullshit!" Flash interrupted and balled his hands into fists. "I can't believe you're that jealous of my popularity that you'd try and harm my beautiful face!"

"What?! No, of course not-"

"You better watch yourself, Penis," Flash threatened and jabbed an index finger into Peter's sternum. "And pray we're not playing any contact sports in P.E. later, 'cause that'll give me free rein to attack you."

Flash shoved upwards on the bottom of Peter's book and sent it whirling to the floor. It landed open, creasing a third of its pages at an awkward angle. As the bully skulked off Ned lowered his phone from the recording he'd started in case evidence was needed.

"Here," Danny said, appearing out of nowhere. He picked up Peter's book and straightened to standing once more.

"Thanks, man," Peter said, but he finally took in the dark circles under Danny's eyes. "Hey, Danny, are you alright this morning?"

"Yeah, you look like the walking dead," Ned agreed jokingly.

Peter shot a brief glare at him for his reference to their previous conversation.

"Just…had a weird nightmare last night," Danny said. "Brought some stuff up," he added, rubbing at a phantom pain in his left hand.

* * *

_Astoria, Queens — 12:45_

"It was really freaky," Danny said, readjusting his right earbud. "I've fought a lot of intimidating ghosts, but that thing was actually scary."

" _Wraiths are like that,"_ Sam confirmed on screen. She jostled Tucker to fit into the frame. _"They must have evolved in the Ghost Zone to be more intimidating so they could cause fear and feed more easily. They're made up of ectoplasm, but instead of having a consciousness they are driven by pure negative emotional energy."_

" _So like a poltergeist?"_ Tucker asked.

" _No, poltergeists manifest on the human plane. Wraiths breed within the Ghost Zone in more isolated regions since sentient ghosts treat them like they're dangerous predators. Which…they are."_

"Damn," Danny muttered.

" _Wraiths are basically emotional leeches,"_ Sam continued. _"A lot like our pal Spectra, except they're not exclusive to teenage angst. Or sentient. At least that's what people say."_

"Sure didn't seem intelligent to me. It was even more animalistic than Plasmius' experiments. You don't think this is one of the fruitloop's schemes, do you?"

" _Doubt it. Wraiths are so hard to control, I doubt he'd mess around with them."_

" _Vlad's definitely about control,"_ Tucker agreed.

"So what are they doing in the human world? In Queens?" Danny asked. "Do you think it has anything to do with my parents?"

" _Not unless your parents have already built a functioning portal which just so happened to break through into the Ghost Zone in the wraiths' quote-unquote 'habitat.' So, probably not. But they have to be getting in_ _ **some**_ _how."_

"Great, so now I have to start combing one of the biggest cities in the world for some natural or manufactured portal. How the heck am I gonna do that? My ghost sense only does so much. And to be honest? I really, really don't want to have an up-close interaction with another wraith anytime soon."

" _Can you borrow some of your parents' stuff? Did they bring a Fenton Tracker?"_

"They'd have had to," Danny mused.

" _Great! So just nab it and get to work!"_ Tucker said.

"Just one thing," Danny morosely protested. "They took pretty much all their stuff to their new lab."

" _You mean it's…"_

"In Avengers Tower," Danny confirmed. "And how am I going to explain why I need the tracker? It's not like I can just tell them what I'm trying to do."

" _Just steal it,"_ Sam suggested. _"How hard can it be? You've done it tons of times before."_

"The Tower systems might already be calibrated to detect ectoplasmic energy," Danny disagreed. "Mom and Dad probably did that the second they arrived."

" _So Danny just needs a reason to go into a maximum-security lab,"_ Sam added.

"Maybe I can visit my parents at work sometime? Peter says he has an internship with Stark. I'll just go with him one day and find a moment to *go to the bathroom* or something."

" _That could work. So what's this Peter guy like anyway?"_ Tucker asked.

"He's cool, I guess. Well, cool for us, anyway. He's definitely not that high on Midtown's social ladder."

" _That's not all that matters, Danny,"_ Sam sighed.

"I didn't say it did, Sam," Danny mimicked.

" _How cool is he?"_ Tucker prodded.

Danny scoffed and rolled his eyes. "He isn't, nor will he ever be, as cool as you."

" _I'm allowed to be jealous of my best bud making new friends!"_

"I'm not gonna be a hermit for a year! I need social interaction too, ya know!"

The bell rang.

"Sorry, guys, I gotta go. Class is starting here."

" _Aw, man!"_ Tucker whined. _"Why can't our lunchtimes overlap more?"_

" _Time zones, Tuck,"_ Sam drawled. _"Hang in there, Danny. Keep us posted about the wraith sitch."_

"Will do."

Danny put his phone away and shouldered his backpack. He carried his tray towards the trash cans and passed next to a ladder where Liz was adjusting a banner.

"Whoa!" the girl exclaimed, causing Danny to look up.

Liz's foot slipped off the ladder rung. She fell back and Danny instinctively frisbeed his tray onto the nearest table and caught Liz with both arms. Everyone nearby stared on as Danny stood there effortlessly holding the senior girl.

Danny realized he was acting too strong in the moment and buckled a knee, bringing himself and Liz ungracefully lower. The girl found her footing once more and removed herself from Danny's embrace.

"Uh, sorry," she mumbled and straightened her sweater. "Thanks for the catch."

"No problem," Danny replied with a half-smile. He found his lunch tray and exited the room.

"What a knight in shining armor," Betty commented as she and Liz watched the boy leave. "It should be criminal to look that cute and be that gentlemanly."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Liz, if your attention's elsewhere, I claim the new kid as mine to pursue."

Liz shook her head and rolled her eyes. "I'll invite him to my party for you," she offered with a smile.

* * *

_Mumbai — Saturday, September 10, 07:00 Local Time_

"Tony."

"Hill. Always a pleasure," Tony greeted and shook the agent's hand as she escorted him inside. "So I hear you're having some ghost troubles?"

"Just one. Ex-Operative Ghost, real name Ava Starr. She was here," Hill clarified as she swiped her ID on the elevator access panel. The doors opened, and she led the billionaire inside. As the elevator descended underground, Hill continued, "Since I called you, I've debriefed more agents and built a better picture of what happened. She appeared out of nowhere and seemed disoriented, like she didn't expect to just appear in our offices. We have remodeled in the past few years, but what remains of our intel doesn't show any sign of her having been here while holding an active status."

"Weird. So you're saying she might not have even planned to come here in the first place?"

"It's a possibility."

The elevator dinged and opened onto a sprawling underground command center with glass-encased labs flanking the central desk pods and workspaces.

"So how does an ex-SHIELD agent accidentally find herself in a SHIELD facility? Seems a little too small-world to me. What's the draw?"

"Our neighbors."

Tony followed Maria into one of the labs, and its electrochromic glass immediately darkened when the door hissed shut. One wall lit up with a live CCTV feed of a building outside. The glow of the projection glinted off a few technicians' glasses where they sat at a workstation.

"It's the whole reason this SHIELD base was established," Hill explained. "An experimental research and development division buried deep within the General Electric conglomerate. We opened a month after they did."

"Why?"

"A few months before, they established a defense contract with the Guys in White, which had only been established a year before that. You know Fury; any talk of the paranormal has always had his ears burning, ever since the Krull fiasco in '95."

"So you think Starr came for them and, what, came in here by accident?"

"She's been exhibiting a pattern for the past few months targeting ultra-secure facilities overflowing with advanced tech. Most recently was the Avengers Facility in upstate New York and now here, a SHIELD base. But we think she came for the tech across the street, walked through the wrong underground wall and ended up here."

"So has this place actually done anything suspicious over the years?"

"Aside from leading to the Parkers' death? There's been a few nighttime shipments that had excessive security, but nothing explicitly 'villainous.' "

"Wait wait wait, did you say 'Parkers'?"

"Yeah, they were investigating, got their cover blown and then died in an 'accidental' plane crash. What about them?" Maria confirmed. She glanced over at the technicians and nodded her head towards the screen. They wordlessly pulled up two agents' profiles.

Richard and Mary Parker.

Tony began pouring over the data on the screen. "Did they…have any next of kin?"

"A son. Lives with his aunt in Queens."

Tony looked over his shoulder with anxious concern written across his face.

 _[Boss, sorry to interrupt,]_ Friday interjected, _[but it's Peter.]_

"I thought that was obvious, Friday," he replied.

_[No, I just received a distress signal.]_

Tony eyed the SHIELD technicians attempting to listen to Tony's one-sided conversation. "Send in a drone and connect me. Sorry, Hill, gotta take care of this out of earshot."

Moments later found Tony back in the marketplace above with a lemonade order placed.

* * *

_Forest Park, Queens — Friday, September 9, 21:46_

The tunes from Flash's turntable assaulted Danny's ears the second he stepped inside. He cringed, looking around for any familiar faces. A stranger lost in a sea of teenagers who all had their own cliques, Danny couldn't help but feel a little alone. He ended up shuffling into the kitchen where he found some drinks and quickly poured himself some water from the fridge's dispenser.

"Every party needs a phantom."

Danny choked on the water and ended up spitting most of it back in the cup. Coughing, he looked and saw Michelle silently leaning against the counter next to him, eyes grazing over the hordes of teenagers.

"What?" Danny finally managed, pouring his water in the sink and fetching some more.

"A silent specter hovering in the corner," Michelle waxed poetically, "watching over the feast until it's time to strike."

"I ain't no specter, just a spectator."

Michelle half-smiled.

"I don't know anyone here, so…"

"Your buddy Peter's floating around somewhere," Michelle said. "He evaporated as soon as the Penis Parker chant started."

"Aw, shoot, I missed it?"

Michelle let out a single chuckle and held out her own plastic cup. They cheers'd and took a sip.

"So how'd you get invited?" Danny asked, but when he turned, Michelle was already meandering off to other parts of the house. Danny sighed and broke off in a different direction.

Ned soon caught Danny's attention as he stood next to the wall of windows. He was alone, dejectedly sporting a trilby.

"What's up, Ned?" Danny greeted.

Ned looked over and smiled. "Oh, hey, Danny. What's crackalackin'?"

"Nice hat."

"Thanks! Not everybody's digging it."

"Go figure," Danny commented with a roll of his eyes. He sensed movement outside and glanced up, but all he saw was the moonlit roof of the master suite across the patio. He turned back to Ned and said, "You looked kinda lost over here."

"I'm just hoping Spi- Pe- Spid- uh, Peterman will show up."

"Peterman?"

"Peter. Or Spider-Man. Or neither. Both. Both is good. Both would've been here at some point. Um—I—I can't talk good…after…nine?"

Danny leaned over to look in Ned's cup. "You got more than just water in there, buddy?"

"What?! No, no no no!"

Danny chuckled. "Chillax, man. I'm just messing with you."

Ned breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, haha, thank God. No, Liz's parents would kill her if she had alcohol here."

"Glad these rich people have _some_ standards. The A-listers at Casper High were all delinquents, and the rich people in town are downright evil. Where _are_ her parents, anyway?"

"I think she said her dad's working tonight, and her mom's with friends or something."

"So they trust a bunch of high schoolers not to destroy their house?"

"Eh, some of these guys are jerks, like Flash, but we're responsible enough with other people's property."

"The benefits of going to a snobby prep school."

"More like the benefits of having the descendant of a Howling Commando as a principal."

Vacuum.

The noise of the party disappeared, though everyone else continued dancing obliviously.

"D-do you… _n-not_ hear it too?" Ned mumbled fearfully.

Danny darted his eyes around looking for any signs of an attack. "Ned, you need to find someplace to hide."

"What's happening, Danny?!"

One by one, the nearest students each paused, perplexed, and looked around in confusion.

A shadow fell over the boys. Danny slowly turned around and grabbed Ned's arm. "Run!" he barked.

Two wraiths hovered outside the glass, backlit by the early September moon.

"EVERYBODY RUN!" Danny repeated and pulled Ned towards the kitchen.

The first wraith seeped through the glass, but the second shattered it as it entered.

"What- what the hell are those things?" someone shouted.

Flash's DJ set faltered as he bumped the turntables' controls in surprise. He screeched and dove for cover behind the sofa.

Danny practically threw Ned behind the island before sprinting down the vacant master hallway. He rounded a corner and pressed flat against the wall. "Time to introduce Midtown to Danny Phantom," he mumbled. Danny heard footsteps coming, so he closed his eyes and fell through the wall, transforming as he passed through the drywall.

Danny Phantom arced up and over the house then looped around through the park behind it. Whipping through the trees and back into the Toomes' house revealed a living room in chaos.

Students crouched and huddled around the furniture while two wraiths hovered overhead. A subtle green glow fogged the air and bled towards the beasts.

"EVERYBODY CHILL OUT!" Phantom screamed. "These are wraiths! They feed off bad emotion!"

A few teens heard him and reduced themselves to whimpering, but a majority continued to freak out. Some of the jocks took to throwing picture frames and coffee table books at the wraiths, but they either shattered ineffectively or sailed uselessly through the wraiths' smokey trails.

Phantom charged his fists with ectoplasm. "Do you guys understand words?" he asked the beasts.

The wraiths screeched senselessly.

"That's a no, then." Phantom released two blasts. One hit its target, but the other missed and destroyed the behemoth LED television on the wall. He cringed. "Er…sorry."

Flash stood up from his hiding place. "Bro, are you here to help or not?" he taunted, but the boy screamed when one of the wraiths targeted him.

Phantom saw the wraith charging, so he flew forward and straddled it. The beast bucked like a bronco, and the hero tried his best to maintain a grip, balling his fists in its ethereal cloak. He fumbled to get an arm wrapped around the thing's neck, but it sent him sailing into the wall. Phantom crashed against a metal-framed glass bookcase and shattered the upper shelves, sending himself and their contents plummeting to destroy the lower ones. He got his bearings and saw one piece of the metal frame rolling next to him. Phantom grabbed it, stood and held it like a bat.

"Hey, piñata, you missed me!" Phantom barked and leaped back into the air.

"Pretty sure it didn't," Michelle commented from the sidelines.

Phantom swung forcefully but missed when the nearest wraith dodged. He instead caught the solid-glass chandelier's support cable and ripped it from the ceiling. The assembly immediately fell to and dented the walnut coffee table, and the closest students had to shield their faces from the scattering glass.

"What are you _things_ doing to my house?!" Liz shouted from her perch next to Betty.

Phantom angrily whipped to face her. "I'm NOT a thing, and I'm _TRYING_ to save everyo-!"

One of the wraiths had risen behind the hero and raised its skeletal arm. It struck Phantom behind the skull and sent him careening into the protruding corner of the wall next to Liz, his skull taking the brunt of the impact. Phantom collapsed unmoving and face-down on the floor.

Liz fearfully looked up at the two wraiths now focused on her, Betty and Phantom alone. The rest of the students scrambled for the kitchen, master wing and broken glass wall to the patio.

"M-m-mister hero guy?" Liz stuttered and violently shoved his shoulder.

Phantom jolted and struggled to press himself up off the floor. "Mm—mmhm?" he slurred. "Yeahp, I'mmmmup. Nev'r fear, Phasma's here."

Liz and Betty shared concerned looks.

Phantom tipped over onto his butt and shook out his head. His white hair floofed back into its typical untamed style. "Ugh, what hit me?"

"A wall," Betty informed. "And now if you could please _stop_ destroying my friend's house and _start_ killing the dementors, that would be super great!"

"They're _wraiths_. No souls, feed on bad emotion not happy thoughts. Big difference."

"Are you...dead?" Liz asked.

Phantom squinted at her as he tried to focus his vision.

"I mean...ghosts are real?" the party hostess clarified.

Phantom rolled over to get on his hands and knees. "As real as you are, dudette."

Liz saw him feeling around for something and noticed the long metal bar which had rolled against her knee. She picked it up and held it out to the hero.

"Thanks," he said. Phantom stood, fumbling once but catching himself before Betty could intervene. He took the piece from Liz and snapped it in two against his knee, brandishing its pieces like eskrima sticks.

The closer wraith charged.

Phantom sprung into the air once more, using the metal pieces as conduits for his ectoplasmic energy charges. He crossed his arms tightly in front of him and whipped them out and together once the wraith was in reach, scissoring the beast's head off. A few people screamed and one partygoer wretched as both head and body fell to the floor and disintegrated into a cloud of infernal smoke at Betty and Liz's feet.

The students watching on from the kitchen cheered, unwittingly attracting the remaining wraith's attention. Phantom groaned in frustration as he went in pursuit. Before he could get ahold of the wraith, it extended its arm and wrapped its unnaturally long fingers around Phantom's torso. The wraith began leeching his energy, and Phantom went slightly slack and dropped one of the sticks in hand.

"Come on, Danny Phantom, get him!" Ned shouted.

Phantom's eyes locked onto Ned's, and he mustered a determined frown. He didn't have nearly enough wherewithal to get a forceful strike in, so he looked down at the metal piece in hand. He turned it intangible and laboriously lifted it until the metal phased straight through the wraith's skull. Phantom dropped the intangibility.

The wraith paused for a moment before letting out one final, terrible screech and disappearing in the same cloud of smoke as the other. The pipe dropped and clamored across the kitchen island while Phantom dropped over the faucet.

"Holy shit," Flash said.

The students cheered once more in victory. Ned shoved his way through the crowd to Phantom's side and helped lift him upright. Phantom threw an arm over the boy's shoulder and looked around as he panted for air. The hero lurched forwards and, realizing where he was, merely said "Bye" before sloppily flying out the window.

Ned hurried to the window and looked out at the sky, but Phantom was nowhere to be found. A body suddenly fell from the roof, though, and crashed into a bush. Ned hurried over and exclaimed, "Danny!"

Danny looked not quite as worse for wear as Phantom had been when he'd left, but it was obvious the wraiths had attacked him too. "Hey, Ned," he greeted as if the situation were completely normal.

"What did those things do to you?!"

Danny fought against the bush's branches. "Grabbed me, sucked out my energy and dropped me on the roof. I was looking for a way down. Guess I just fell off."

"Too bad Danny Phantom didn't help you down!"

The weary boy finally escaped from the shrubbery's clutches. "Looked like I shoulda been helping him, not the other way around."

Ned brushed some leaves off of Danny's shirt. "C'mon, let's get you a drink."

Liz, Betty and Flash appeared in the opening in the glass wall. Flash held a nearly-full red solo cup in hand, and it visibly shook from his frayed nerves.

"Liz, can you get Danny some water?" Ned asked.

"Flash, give him yours," Liz suggested.

"This isn't— er it's my-"

"We don't have time for you to be a dick to the new kid, Flash," Betty interrupted and easily stole the cup from his grasp, handing it to Danny.

Danny immediately gulped almost the whole thing down and broke into a coughing fit. "Holy crap!" he sputtered. "You guys really need to change your Brita filter!"

Liz frowned and grabbed the cup from his hand, lifting it to her nose. She turned a furious glare onto Flash.

The boy wilted under her gaze. "I-it wasn't water," he feebly admitted.

Everyone turned their attention to Danny who still leaned heavily against Ned. "What?" he asked.

* * *

Jazz slumped harder against her hand in a waning attempt to stay upright. She stared across the table at her mom as the older woman frowned at her letters.

"It's just Scrabble, Mom, not a password which unlocks the secrets of the universe," Jazz groaned. "Just play a word already."

"Don't rush me, Jazz!" Maddie protested. "You've won every game we've played for years, and tonight's the night I break that streak."

Jazz sighed and stood to get a sweater from her room. Mercifully, her phone buzzed in her pocket.

_[Call from: Toast]_

"How's the party, Danny?"

" _Hey, uh, is this Jazz?"_ an unknown voice replied.

"Yeah? Who's this?"

" _This is Ned from school. Peter's friend? And Danny's, I guess?"_

Jazz's eyes widened. She glanced out at her mother at the table and her father on the sofa before silently shutting her bedroom door. "Why do you have Danny's phone? Is he okay?"

" _JAZZ!"_ Danny shouted in the background. _"I HASHTAG SENT IT! IMMA COOL KID."_

Jazz gasped and whisper-shouted, "Is he drunk?!"

" _Accidentally!"_

"How does someone accidentally get drunk?!"

" _GHOSTS, AMIRIGHT? I'M, LIKE…DEAD."_

" _Well after he fell off the roof we thought we were giving him Flash's water but it turns out Flash had poured himself, like, four shots of vodka after Danny Phantom destroyed the living room and killed the wraiths?"_

"I'm getting whiplash from this conversation."

" _Look, can you please come pick HIM up? Peter already left so I think Mrs. Parker isn't coming back to give me a ride so Abe said I could crash at his place tonight but he doesn't have room for Danny too, and I don't even know how Danny got here? He just kind of appeared? Besides I don't really want to get adults involved anyway since it was legitimately an accident and it'd only cause MORE trouble-"_

"Yes, alright, calm down. I'll come give you guys a ride. Keep Danny safe until I get there, okay?"

" _I will, don't worry."_

" _IT'S NOT THE ONLY ACCIDENT I'VE EVER HAD,"_ Danny added.

"And try to get him to shut up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooo a couple bomb drops in this chapter, eh?
> 
> References:
> 
> \- The Parkers: Yes, really. If you've read all the comics (or spent 2 hours googling their characters' bios like I did in preparation for this fic since I didn't grow up reading comics), they *were* in Mumbai on assignment at one point, they *were* recruited by Nick Fury, and they *were* killed in an 'accidental' plane crash after their cover was blown. Now it's suddenly not such a flip-flop for Tony to want Peter to stay a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man after carting him off all the way to Berlin, is it? Suddenly, our boi Peter's origin story is a million times more tragic.....:]
> 
> \- "Both. Both is good.": Because of the current popularity of the Road to El Dorado meme
> 
> \- "Phasma's here": concussed Danny is accidentally referencing Captain Phasma from Star Wars Episode VII
> 
> \- Using the bookcase frame pieces like eskrima sticks is 100% a tribute to my other fic Recognized which features lots of eskrima action thanks to Robin’s/Nightwing’s involvement
> 
> \- Call from Toast: Yes, Jazz would 100% make sure her contacts are organized and formally labeled; Sam would be Samantha Manson and Mom and Dad are Mother and Father. BUT, the 'toast' exchange from Secret Weapons in season 2 ("You're toast!" "Oh, yeah? You and what toaster?") is iconic and would remind her of a critical moment of growth in their sibling relationship. Close runner-ups include Pariah Dork and Space Cadet.
> 
> \- "I SENT IT!": Dudebros of 2016 unite. This was a ridiculously popular hashtag #sendit because of some viral video that was popular at the time this story takes place in MCU canon.
> 
> Thanks as usual for everyone's feedback and reactions! It's always nice to be reminded that I'm writing this story for other people to enjoy too and not just myself lol. Also a big thanks as usual to my ever-invaluable (and apparently ever-expanding now that I start to list them out) beta team of StarlinsGhost (FFn), DP-Marvel94 (Tumblr), whats-up-everybody (Tumblr), Lala2003 (FFn), LetTheChaosEnsue (FFn), and Weshney (AO3) for their individually magnificent contributions to this monster of a fic!
> 
> Also, I *may* have recently become obsessed with My Hero Academia and am trying to figure out a story idea that satisfies my DPxMHA crossover itch...
> 
> CHAPTER 6 UPDATE [DECEMBER 10] - Sorry guys I've been extremely busy balancing a behemoth of a freelance project with an example project for an application for a permanent job, so I've been too busy and preoccupied to get much writing done. I've drafted the first couple scenes of chapter 6 but we're only at around 1200 words so there's still a lot to go. Hang in there! The update should be coming late this month or early January


	6. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jazz goes to collect Danny from the house party at the Toomes'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey peeps! Long time no see, amiright? Heh heh...
> 
> ...Sorry.
> 
> Life's been...complicated. I had one paid project, finally, which may lead to more contracts. I also spent a month developing example work for another firm in the Netherlands as part of my application, so I put off developing chapter 6 so I could devote all my energy to that. Unfortunately, that didn't work out in the end. And THAT, unfortunately, tanked my self-esteem and creativity which delayed chapter 6 even further.
> 
> But, I want the story to move forward despite everything since this is the one area of my life which I can control at the moment. This, and doing Zumba workouts more consistently. (Yes I can move my hips now and kill it at any Latin dance styles, thank you very much.)
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. It's a huge weight off my chest to be publishing again. Thank you for your patience :)

_Forest Park, Queens — Saturday, September 10, 00:10_

Jazz's VW Jetta rolled to a smooth stop as she gaped out of the passenger window. She double-checked her phone's GPS before putting the car in park with a disbelieving huff.

The Toomes' front yard was absolutely pristine, in complete contrast to every movie Jazz had ever seen involving a high school house party. The crisp lines of the landscaping almost dared her to mess with it; she had never encountered a yard so subliminally tyrannical.

Jazz finally reached the front door of the futuristic mansion and rang the bell. The door swung open to reveal the last stragglers of the party milling about behind Liz.

"Oh, you!" Liz greeted. "I didn't know _you_ were Danny's sister when you auditioned for the decathlon team! Though I guess you guys _are_ , like, the only new kids at Midtown. Jazz, right?"

"Yeah!" Jazz replied. "You have a beautiful home, Liz."

"It's alright, I guess," the tall senior conceded, embarrassed. "Come on in. Danny's in the living room. I'm sorry you didn't get an invite to the party yourself; I completely forgot when we met."

"It's fine. It's not really my *scene*."

Liz stepped back from the door and let Jazz inside.

"Danny wasn't too much trouble, was he?"

"Euhhh…" Liz trailed off with a scratch to her eyebrow.

* * *

" _Ned! NED! Look, I can disappear! Ssh ssh ssh, watch watch watch…" / "…" / "…" / "….You're literally just standing in the middle of the living room." / "Not when I don't move. Iz' like- i'z like I've mastered the art…of standing so incredibly still…that I become invisible to the eye. Watch." / "…." / "Ow! Hey, watch it! I'm standing right here!" / "How can we tell? You're…*invisible*."_

" _Guys, check out this MMA move I learned last week! Flash, get over here, I need a partner." / "What?! No way, Dennis!"_

" _Hey Betty, how many pizza slices do you think I can fit, stacked, in my mouth, at once?" / "Is that really relevant information right now?" / "Don't judge me!"_

* * *

"Your hesitation is worrying me," Jazz groaned.

Liz led her into the living room which was in shambles. The floor had been swept, though, and a lone, undamaged couch stood proudly in the middle of the room. Danny slept, drooling, oblivious to the noise of the departing partygoers around him.

"He offered to help clean up after the ghosts destroyed everything," Liz explained. "Although it _was_ to vacuum the ceiling, so I'm not sure how useful he woulda been."

* * *

" _No, you don't get it. I can FLY! It's no trouble!" / "Who cleans the ceiling after a party?!" / "No, like, LITERALLY, I can-"_

* * *

Jazz struggled to keep a straight face. "Probably a good idea you didn't let him help, then."

"Well, anyway, it took us a while to get him to stop shouting and trying to show off," Liz continued. She wiped some sweat from her forehead.

"So what happened, anyway?"

"He fell off the roof right after Danny Phantom defeated the wraiths, and he seemed pretty shaken up. I thought Flash had some water; turns out he'd just raided my parents' liquor stash for some straight vodka, and Danny slammed the whole thing."

"Oh, boy," Jazz said.

"Thank God my parents aren't home. If they knew ANY of us were drinking alcohol…"

"No, I get it," Jazz agreed. "How am I supposed to get him home without tipping off Mom and Dad? Danny's never drank before, and our parents aren't THAT oblivious."

"Do you wanna, maybe, stay the night?" Liz offered. "Who knows what he'll do if he wakes up again," she added with a chuckle. "My mom won't be back until super late, and I don't even know if Dad will be home tonight."

"Well…I guess," Jazz agreed.

"Anyway, I figured I'd just get a blanket for him and leave him there on the couch. But we have a guest room upstairs you can take."

Jazz sighed. "Thanks. I guess I'll tell my parents you invited us over so we don't risk encountering drunk drivers this late or whatever."

"Good cover."

"What's gonna be yours?" Jazz asked, gesturing to the destroyed room around them.

"The truth? A bunch of people were live-streaming so I can prove I'm not just BS'ing to cover for a house party gone wrong," Liz assured with a chuckle.

* * *

" _Get out of there, Danny!"_

Danny pounded the off button with a vengeance, but the system's automated startup had already initiated. He whimpered frantically, wrestling against the cord which had ensnared his ankle and trapped him inside.

" _Come on, dude! This is not how you die!"_

"No! Stay back!" Danny shouted, and Tucker stumbled back out of the mouth of the machine. Danny returned his focus to the cable, even trying to undo his boot, but it was to no avail.

_Pmmmmmmmmmmb-_

A bass-noted pulse assaulted Danny's gut. He stopped struggling, stopped fighting fate. He could only gape. Danny tried one last time to press the off button.

His muscles froze. He could do nothing when the pain struck a millisecond later. _Millions_ of volts of foreign energy _coursed_ through him as a grounding and _scorched_ the panel under his palm. Danny could barely _scream_ as an outlet for the _pain, building, compounding, intensifying-_

_His scream echoed through the entire house._

" _Danny!" they screamed._

" _DANNY!"_

"KID!"

Danny's seized muscles released, and he gulped for air. He shot up on the sofa despite two hands grasping his shoulders and came face to face with a man he didn't recognize. Wide-eyed, the boy quickly appraised his surroundings and found himself in a barren living room which he _also_ didn't recognize. "Wh-who are you?!" he croaked.

"I'm Mr. Toomes, Liz's father," the man calmly explained and released Danny's shoulders once he saw the boy was in the present again.

"M-m-mr. Toomes?" Danny repeated, heaving for breath. He pressed a hand to his damp forehead as the nightmare's adrenaline rush subsided.

"And who are _you_?"

"D-d-danny, sir. Friend of Liz."

"Are you alright, Danny Friend of Liz?" Mr. Toomes asked.

Danny's vision blurred. He realized it was from tears.

Mr. Toomes shifted to a more comfortable position beside Danny on the couch. "Sounded like one hell of a nightmare."

Danny sniffled but refused to respond. "I-I'm sorry I woke you up, sir."

"Don't worry about it. I just got home a few minutes ago and was in the kitchen when I heard you start screaming."

Hand shaking, Danny felt for his phone and woke it. 3:34am. The loss of adrenaline revealed the throbbing pain of a killer headache.

"Try to go back to sleep, bud. Doris makes a killer Saturday breakfast, and there's no way we're letting you escape before then," the man said with a jokingly sinister grin.

Danny tried to force a huff of a laugh.

"Dad! You're home!"

The two men turned to see a pajama-clad Liz hovering by the kitchen with her cell phone in hand.

"Hey, Gumdrop, what are you doing up?"

She scoffed. "Ugh, I had the worst nightmare about… well, anyway. I woke up screaming."

"Just like your friend Danny here. Are you sure you like that Peter kid? You and Danny apparently have a lot in common," Mr. Toomes teased.

"Dad-uh!" Liz whined, eyes darting between him and Danny. "You can't just *say* things like that! I do _not_ like Peter."

"If you say so, sweetums," her father acquiesced with a cheeky wink at Danny.

Liz scoffed again.

"Why do we have a houseguest anyway?" Mr. Toomes asked.

"Danny wasn't feeling well and seemed kind of tired, and his ride left early, so I said he could just crash here for the night. Are you feeling a little better now, Danny?"

"Headache," Danny grunted.

"Dad, why don't you get Danny some pain medicine?"

"Sure thing, kiddo." With a quick affectionate pat to Danny's knee, he stood and went in search of medicine.

"I'm sorry about him," Liz said as she took her father's place on the sofa. "It's like he's actively trying to embarrass me."

"At least he doesn't do it publicly."

* * *

_Forest Park — Saturday, 08:40_

Danny jolted into consciousness at the sound of Doris Toomes' coffee mug clinking against the countertop. He heard the mother's hushed conversation with someone and soon identified Jazz as the other speaker. An early fall breeze crinkled the hastily-duct-taped-together garbage bags covering the missing glass panel overlooking the courtyard. The fatigued boy rolled over and tried to ignore the last tendrils of the concussion- and alcohol-induced headache fighting against his accelerated healing.

Life slowly oozed into the Toomes household. Soon, both Liz and Mr. Toomes joined the others in the kitchen, so Danny's times of playing dead were over. He stretched hard enough that he lost balance and rolled off the sofa onto the floor with a muffled 'oof.'

"Hey, look who decided to rejoin the land of the living!" Doris Toomes teased as she approached with two mugs in hand. As Danny righted himself, she held out one of the mugs. "Hope you slept okay. I don't know _why_ Liz didn't take you up to one of the guest bedrooms."

"I didn't want to wake him!" Liz blurted. "He was really *tired*." She made eye contact with Danny, visually urging him to catch onto the cover story from behind her mother's back.

"Oh, uh, yeah, Mrs. Toomes," Danny added. "It's just been a long week at the new school in a new city, and then the wraith thing drained all my energy. Honestly, I could've slept on the floor."

"It freaked me out. You know this is the second time I've seen them? There were a few ghost things that ambushed us at the Last Night of Freedom barbecue that Betty had right before school started."

Danny's brow furrowed.

"Your guys' parents are ghost nerds, right?" Liz asked Danny and Jazz. "Would they know if these wraiths are targeting me? Or… _us?_ "

Mr. Toomes came meandering in from the kitchen too. "Y'know, I have a hard time believing it was a _ghost_ that destroyed my living room and not some rowdy teenagers."

"It was a wraith, Dad," Liz insisted. "At least that's what Danny Phantom said."

"This 'Danny Phantom' character you won't shut up about?"

"If you don't believe me, watch all the videos from last night. They're trending on Twitter."

"V-videos?" Danny croaked as he followed everyone into the breakfast nook.

"Well, obviously, Danny," Jazz chided then continued with clenched teeth, "what do you expect when an out-of-town hero shows up at a random _high school_ house party?"

"I don't know, Jazz, maybe some _gratitude_ that he bothered to show up and help?" Danny hissed back.

"What do you kids think of Danny Phantom?" Doris asked the Fenton siblings.

Danny and Jazz shared a look. "He's alright, I guess," they chorused.

* * *

_Atlantic Airspace — Saturday, 12:50 Mid-Atlantic Time (GMT -2)_

“Friday, please tell me Peter isn’t going after people that might’ve killed his folks and doesn’t even know it.”

 _[Lying is contradictory to my programming, boss,]_ the A.I. replied. _[I’ve analyzed the video feed from Peter’s suit. He looks like a black market dealer, street name: the Vulture.]_

“Ugh,” Tony moaned. “I can’t take the kid’s suit away; he’ll just go back to using his pajamas and get himself into even worse danger.”

_[Not to mention he’ll wonder why you’re suddenly so protective of him.]_

“We gotta stop this Vulture before Peter gets hurt. Quietly. Tell Happy to monitor Spider-Boy’s movements in the meantime.”

* * *

_Sunnyside, Queens — Saturday, 11:00_

" _Man, it was awful,"_ came Ned's moan over the cell phone's speaker. _"I hate thinking about Dad blowing out his knee in that race. I still refuse to exercise to this day because of it!"_

Peter rolled his eyes and returned his attention to the weapon he'd retrieved after pursuing the Vulture the night before. "Ned, you can't let someone else's injury be your excuse to not work out."

" _It's not an excuse!"_ Ned insisted. _"It freaked me out! It scarred me!"_

"You weren't even there!"

" _I was five! If my former-Olympic-hopeful dad runs and blows out a knee, what can I expect to happen to me?!"_

"Dude, I've been hit with a tanker truck, and I walked away. I don't think you'll hurt yourself if you go for a freakin' workout."

" _Well you *also* have super strength,"_ Ned huffed. _"And you know it, too. I was wondering why you always loop that stupid video of Spider-Man catching a car."_

"I-I'm studying my form! Stopping a car isn't easy, you know." Peter prodded a connection on the weapon with his soldering iron, unintentionally creating a short and shocking himself. "GAH!" he exclaimed and fell out of his desk chair.

" _You alright in there?"_ May called from the other room.

"Fine, May!" Peter shouted back. He plopped back into the chair and stared it down. "I think I'll have to wait till shop on Monday to take this thing apart."

" _Good idea. Then *I* can see how it works, too!"_ Ned agreed. _"…Whoa, this is so weird."_

"What?" Peter asked.

" _Michelle just texted me. She had a nightmare at 3:30am last night, too. She's the 6th person to tell me. And Liz and Danny both had nightmares at the same time too!"_

"That IS weird," Peter agreed.

" _Seems like EVERYONE at the party had a nightmare. You didn't have one, though?"_

"Naw, I didn't," Peter mused. "But- wait a minute, I'd already left when the wraiths showed up."

"Huh…"

"But I DID have a nightmare that night after a wraith chased me on my birthday."

" _Oh, so *that's* why you were so freaked out that day!"_

"What if being near a ghost makes people have nightmares? Is that, like, a ghost side effect?"

" _Well, it didn't happen that time I met Danny Phantom. Maybe it's just wraiths."_

"I'll text Danny. I bet he'd know since his parents are ghost scientists."

* * *

Danny's phone buzzed. He peeled his face from the car's passenger window and checked it.

Peter: _[Hey do ghosts give people nightmares?]_

"Hey Jazz, do I give you nightmares?" Danny asked.

"W-what?!" Jazz sputtered with a laugh and merged onto Queens Blvd. "No, of course not! Maybe an occasional _migraine_ , but…"

"No no, *ghost* me. Danny Phantom. When you're near me when I'm ghosted up, do I give you nightmares?"

"No? Why?"

"Peter's asking if ghosts give people nightmares."

"Why?"

"I dunno."

Danny: _[Lol no why]_

Peter: …

Peter: …

Peter: _[What about wraiths specifically? Seems like everyone at Liz's party woke up at 3:30am because of a nightmare]_

"Everyone there last night had a nightmare, myself included," Danny told Jazz. "Actually now that I think about it, the last time I got up close and personal with a wraith, I woke you guys up with a nightmare."

"Well, you said Sam said wraiths feed on negative emotion and evolved to elicit more fear for better feeding, right?" Jazz recalled. "Their auras must target the amygdala."

"The what?"

"Amygdala," Jazz repeated. "The part of the brain that activates your fear response. It sends out adrenaline and cortisol to the rest of the body to make it freak out so you'll get out of danger. It's like a mushroom boost in Mario Kart."

"Oh, that makes sense," Danny said. "So, what does that have to do with nightmares?"

"The amygdala is also usually overactive when experiencing a post-traumatic nightmare, more so than just a normal nightmare."

"And every time it's been the portal for me…" Danny pondered.

"We've got to find the source of these wraiths, and _fast_ , if only to save everyone's sleep schedules."

Danny: _[Wraiths feed on bad emotion specifically and target the fear part of the brain. I forgot what it's called but Jazz says it's the same part that causes nightmares]_

"For once, your annoying psychology obsession is coming in handy," Danny quipped to Jazz as they turned onto 43rd Street.

"Ha ha."

* * *

_Midtown Manhattan — Wednesday, September 14, 15:45_

"No, Peter and Jazz are in DC with the decathlon team so I just came by myself," Danny spoke into his phone as he entered Avengers Tower's lobby.

"Too bad Jazz couldn't come to help cover," Tucker replied.

"With her complete lack of chill? Probably best I come alone," Danny chuckled. He felt the phone's vibrator pulsate against his cheek and checked the screen.

_[Incoming call from: Toaster]_

"Oh, Jazz is calling so I'll update you later once I've got the tech." He saw an open elevator and got in as he switched calls. "Hey, Jazz, what's up?"

" _Danny! Thank God, Mom and Dad aren't answering!"_

Pressing the button for his parents' 94th-floor lab, Danny heard screaming in the background of the call. "Jazz? Is everything alright?"

" _We're in an elevator in the Washington Monument that's-AAAHHH!"_ A large metallic thump interrupted her. _"It's gonna fall!"_

Danny's nerves chilled.

* * *

 _[Mr. Hogan, we've got a perimeter breach,]_ Friday announced to the security head.

"What?!" Happy burst out. He left his office’s windows and sat at his desk. "Who the hell would be stupid enough to break into Avengers Tower?"

_[I'm getting an ectoplasmic energy signature in the south elevators and ambient temperature drops.]_

"Wait wait wait, there's actually a ghost in Avengers Tower?" Happy clarified.

_[I've already alerted Mr. Stark, who is still off-site. He requested immediate security staff response since the shield and updated defenses are still offline.]_

"Where's it going?"

_[It's approaching Stark Industries' retained laboratories on the upper floors.]_

"Where's my security camera feed?"

* * *

" _Danny I just wanted to say-"_ another thump _"-that I love you, an-and Mom and Dad, so much—"_

"W-what?" Danny pulled at his hair and stared blankly at his reflection in the elevator's mirrored walls. "No…you can't go this way…"

" _-B-b-because I might not-"_

" _Flash! Don't worry about the trophy!"_ someone shouted in the background.

"Jazz, don't talk like that!" Danny blurted. "I need you! We _all_ need you! You'll get through this!"

* * *

_[Temperature is now subzero, boss, and approaching fast!]_

"All this from a ghost?" Tony spat and veered out of the Lincoln Tunnel into Manhattan.

_[The Fentons mentioned the barometric effects of aural spheres-]_

* * *

There was a metallic snap, and Jazz started screaming. A tense moment later, and everything went quiet.

 _"…Oh my god…"_ Jazz whispered.

"What? Are you alright?!"

A louder snap, and then more screaming followed. There was a tremendous crash, then a beat of silence.

" _Spi-?"_ Jazz began.

The screaming resumed before halting once and for all.

"J-Jazz?" Danny hesitantly asked.

* * *

 _[It's at level 80… 85… 90…]_ Friday announced to Happy.

Maddie burst into the office.

Happy looked up and demanded, “Where’s your husband? Shouldn’t he be there?”

“He went for coffee!” Maddie replied. “He probably hasn’t even heard the alert!”

Happy grabbed a walkie talkie. “All S.I. lab security: converge on the south elevators, _now!_ ”

* * *

" _Spider-Man just saved us,"_ Jazz shakily whispered.

Danny released a huge sigh of relief. "Oh thank God."

The elevator arrived at the 94th floor. Its doors slid silently open, and a dozen black-uniformed security guards aimed their ectoplasmically-charged weapons at Danny.

The boy paled. "Uh…Jazz? I'm gonna have to call you back."

Vacuum.

* * *

" _We've got it cornered, Mr. Hogan!"_ Happy heard over the radio.

The security head gaped at his monitors. "No, you don't, you've got the _Fentons'_ kid cornered!"

" _No, I don't think it's the kid, sir…"_

Maddie burst in the office door. "Happy? Where's the ghost?"

"It's no ghost, it's your son, Dr. Fenton. Everyone, stand down!" Happy barked into the radio. He returned his attention to the newcomer. "Do you have any ideas why your son would be tripping our new ectosensors? Is your tech not reliable or something?"

"Of course it's reliable!" Maddie snapped, outraged. "Jack and I must have forgotten to program them to ignore Danny. He's triggered our gear ever since he got lightly zapped turning on the portal. It's just residual, low-level ecto-radiation. Like bananas."

Some shuffling and general chaos came through on the radio. "Not the kid! NOT the kid!" a guard panted.

Maddie and Happy looked back at the screen to see the feed blocked by something black and ominous.

* * *

_Kid, get down!_

Danny couldn't hear what the armed guards were shouting; he barely noticed them at all with another wraith hovering directly over him. However, he finally registered the flailing arms of the guards motioning downwards and forced himself to drop to the floor, lying face-down with arms crossed protectively over his head.

All of the weapons glowed bright green before soundlessly blasting at once. The energy blasts pierced the wraith's invisible aural barrier and screeched through the air above Danny and into the beast. It vaporized into thick black smoke and engulfed Danny before vanishing harmlessly into thin air. The aura dissipated to reveal the guards' labored yet relieved breathing, and the temperature began climbing back to normal.

"Threat neutralized, Mr. Hogan," one guard said into her earpiece before offering a hand to help Danny get off the floor.

"For once, I'm relieved you all have a 'shoot first/ask questions never' approach," Danny quipped.

"Hey, when a defenseless kid is in harm's way, we can't just stand back and hope for a miracle."

"Heh. Um, can you show me to the Fentons' lab please?" Danny tried to ignore the chill left clinging to his skin.

* * *

" _Threat neutralized, Mr. Hogan."_

"All agents stand down and return to your post," Happy ordered. "No more signatures detected."

"Damn it!" Maddie snapped. "Now we still don't have a specimen to study!"

"Your own son was at risk, Dr. Fenton!" Happy replied, incredulous.

Maddie huffed. "No, you're right. I'm glad Danny's safe. But these wraiths have been popping up everywhere and we don't know enough about them to figure out why they've all of a sudden started showing up in New York."

* * *

Danny found himself alone in his parents' lab. He meandered as casually as possible, trying to not too obviously study the security camera's angles. He finally registered the glass-faced cabinet brimming with ghost hunting tech that had a camera directly on it.

Danny huffed before regrouping. Just on the other side of the wall…

_'Storage closet!'_

* * *

_[Mr. Hogan, I'm registering another blip of ectoplasmic energy within the Fentons' lab.]_

"Oh, what now?" Happy griped. He and Maddie looked at the video feed showing Jack blissfully sipping a coffee as he stared out the window.

"Uh, Friday?" Maddie asked the office. "Can you pinpoint the exact location in the room?"

_[By the storage closet, Dr. Fenton.]_

* * *

"Oh, Dad!" Danny exclaimed and kept his back to the cabinet behind him.

Jack turned from the window. "Danno!" he greeted and came over, crushing his son into a hug. "Come to see our fancy new lab?"

"Yep," Danny squeaked out. He heaved for air once his dad released him.

"What were you doing in the closet?"

"Oh, just, uh—" Danny self-consciously readjusted his t-shirt to cover the protrusion in his back pocket. "Needed a…paper…towel?"

Jack glanced at the fully-stocked paper towel dispenser mounted next to him, looked back at Danny and then quirked an eyebrow.

* * *

"This is getting ridiculous," Happy complained. "Friday, can you remember the kid so he doesn't trigger the alarm every two seconds?"

_[Doing it now, Mr. Hogan. It appears the signature already has an existing, unlabeled entry in my database which has not yet been assigned to an identified profile.]_

"I guess we programmed Danny's in after all and just forgot to assign it to him."

“Dr. Fenton," Happy asked, "has anyone ever told you that your family is weird?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No real Easter Eggs this chapter that I can remember. If you spotted something, please feel free to point it out! I'm kinda out of it, all things considered. Just a couple notes instead: [EDIT: a couple of Easter eggs have been found]
> 
> \- "Not when I don't move. Iz' like- i'z like I've mastered the art…of standing so incredibly still…that I become invisible to the eye": referencing Drax's incredible line in Avengers: Infinity War
> 
> \- Danny offering to vacuum the ceiling is a callback to the Prisoners of Love episode when he does in fact vacuum the walls and ceiling in the hopes of preventing divorce.
> 
> \- When Maddie compares Danny's low-level ecto-radiation to bananas, this is referencing the fact that bananas naturally have extremely low levels of radioactivity. *Fun* fact: you'd die of radiation poisoning if you eat ten MILLION bananas at once, or suffer chronic symptoms if you eat 274 bananas per day for 7 years.
> 
> Stay tuned for more fun, and I'm always open to feedback! Thanks for bearing with me as I try to get my real life in order.
> 
> Stay tuned for more fun, and I'm always open to feedback!


End file.
